Wisconsin Supreme Court Bars Longstanding Minority Undergraduate Grant Program

Overview

• The Wisconsin Supreme Court, in a unanimous opinion released Thursday, held that the Minority Undergraduate Retention Grant Program violated the Equal Protection Clause and enjoined the Higher Educational Aids Board from operating it.
• Justices said the decision rests on 2023 U.S. Supreme Court precedent and on findings that the Legislature had not shown a compelling interest at the law’s 1980s inception and that using race as the sole eligibility factor failed narrow tailoring.
• The program was created in the 1985–87 biennial budget to give need-based awards of $250 to $2,500 to statutorily defined groups including Black, Hispanic, American Indian and certain Southeast Asian students and paid $440,433 to 770 recipients in 2023–24.
• Plaintiffs were taxpayers represented by the Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty, which called the ruling a victory, while concurring justices acknowledged ongoing racial disparities and suggested income- or place-based aid as constitutionally viable alternatives.
• The ruling removes a decades-old targeted aid tool for students who relied on small retention grants and could prompt state lawmakers to pursue new income- or zip code–based programs or further legal challenges that test how other race-conscious measures survive post-2023 precedent.