The U.S. Supreme Court case Fisher v. University of Texas at Austin, 2015 revolved around the issue of affirmative action in college admissions. Abigail Fisher, a white woman denied admission to the university, argued that she was discriminated against because of her race, violating the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. The University defended its policy stating it considered race as one factor among many to ensure diversity within its student body and did not use quotas which had been previously ruled unconstitutional by the court. In a 4-3 decision (Justice Elena Kagan recused herself), with Justice Anthony Kennedy writing for majority, upheld UT's admissions process affirming that educational institutions have a compelling interest in ensuring diversity among their students and may consider race as one factor among many during admissions decisions so long as they do not impose racial quotas or create racially isolated programs.

In the dissenting opinion for Fisher v. University of Texas at Austin, Justice Alito argued that the university's use of race in its admissions process was unconstitutional and not narrowly tailored to meet a compelling interest. He contended that the university failed to clearly define its diversity goals or provide evidence that its policy was necessary to achieve them. Furthermore, he criticized the majority for accepting UT’s claim about needing racial preferences without requiring any concrete proof or explanation as per strict scrutiny standards. He also expressed concern over potential harm caused by such policies on minority students who are admitted under less rigorous academic criteria and may struggle acadically due to mismatch effect - an argument disputed by many education researchers but nonetheless raised in his dissent.