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Top Stories: The Texas Impact Of SCOTUS Decisions On Affirmative Action, Immigration

Gus Contreras/KERA News
Protesters gathered yesterday outside Dallas City Hall after the U.S. Supreme Court announced its 4-4 decision on United States v. Texas.

The top local stories this morning from KERA News: Two of yesterday’s U.S. Supreme Court decisions came out of Texas.

One decision upheld UT-Austin’s affirmative action policy in its admission process. Abigail Fisher - a white woman - challenged the school’s consideration of race in its admissions decisions, arguing she was denied a spot because of her race.

The other decision was a tie-vote that stalled President Obama’s executive action on immigration. It would’ve provided a path to citizenship for millions of undocumented immigrants. Dozens of protestors gathered in downtown Dallas yesterday for a march to City Hall.

There were complex circumstances behind both Supreme Court cases. The affirmative action case had to contend with the state’s top 10 percent rule, while the immigration case boiled down to an issue over driver’s licenses. Lauren Silverman talked about it with SMU law professor Lackland Bloom in our Friday Conversation.

The Supreme Court is expected to rule Monday on the final Texas case this session regarding the state’s abortion restrictions.

You can listen to North Texas stories weekdays at 8:22 a.m. and 6:20 p.m. on KERA 90.1 FM.

Former KERA staffer Krystina Martinez was an assistant producer. She produced local content for Morning Edition and KERANews.org. She also produced The Friday Conversation, a weekly series of conversations with North Texas newsmakers. Krystina was also the backup newscaster for the Texas Standard.