In his latest First Monday Musings column for Above the Law, Illinois Law dean and professor Vikram David Amar discusses an allegation from a UCLA law professor that the UC system is illegally using race in undergraduate admissions decisions. More specifically, he is concerned about unfair treatment of Asian-American applicants. As Amar outlines, there are a few key differences in the California case and the Harvard case that is currently before the Supreme Court. He writes:

"Crucially, in California, the state Constitution prohibits any consideration of an applicant’s race in admissions — California voters prohibited race-conscious affirmative action in 1996 when they adopted Proposition 209. Unlike California law, federal law, which governs the Harvard case, does not (currently) ban all race-conscious admissions. At Harvard, therefore, the legal question is whether admissions officers are taking race into account in an impermissible way (against Asian-Americans), but in California, any use of race in admissions (apart, perhaps, from race-based outreach) would be impermissible."

Read the full column at abovethelaw.com.