Wisconsin Supreme Court Strikes Down Minority Undergraduate Grant Program

The court found the race‑specific, need‑based statute violated the Equal Protection Clause and the decision points to new limits on state race‑conscious aid under recent U.S. Supreme Court rulings.

Overview

The court, which ruled Thursday, unanimously held the statute that defined eligible minority groups unconstitutional and enjoined the Wisconsin Higher Educational Aids Board from operating the Minority Undergraduate Retention Grant Program.
The program was created in the 1985–87 state budget, awarded need‑based grants of $250 to $2,500 per year, and distributed $440,433 to 770 students in 2023–24.
Justices relied on the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2023 decisions limiting race‑conscious higher education policies and said the legislature did not show that race‑based eligibility was narrowly tailored to a compelling state interest when the law was enacted.
Chief Justice Jill Karofsky wrote a separate concurrence to recognize persistent racial gaps in education, and she urged race‑neutral alternatives such as targeting economic disadvantage even as she applied binding federal precedent.
The conservative Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty, which represented the taxpayers who sued, called the ruling a major win and the decision raises the likelihood of further legal and policy challenges to other state programs that explicitly use race.