Students for Fair Admissions

In 2014 SFFA sued Harvard, alleging that Harvard College held Asian American applicants to higher standards and failed to seriously consider race-neutral alternatives.⁠[1]

SFFA received federal tax-exempt status as a 501(c)(3) organization in January 2015.⁠[2]

The trial opened in Boston’s federal courthouse in October 2018. On October 1, 2019, Judge Allison D. Burroughs issued a 130-page ruling finding that Harvard did not discriminate on the basis of race, did not engage in racial balancing or quotas, and did not place too much emphasis on race; she also found that Asian American applicants were accepted at the same rate as other applicants.⁠[3]

She also found that Asian American applicants’ personal ratings were “on average, slightly weaker,” a disparity not fully explained at trial. SFFA president Blum said the group would appeal.⁠[1]

After the First Circuit affirmed, the Supreme Court took the case in January 2022 and heard argument on October 31, 2022.⁠[4]

On June 29, 2023, the Supreme Court invalidated the admissions programs at Harvard and the University of North Carolina. Chief Justice John Roberts required colorblind criteria but did not bar colleges from considering an applicant’s discussion of how race affected his or her life.⁠[5]

The Court held that Harvard’s program violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment and that SFFA had organizational standing; Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson did not take part in the Harvard case, which was decided 6–2.⁠[4]

Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote in dissent that the Court “subverts the constitutional guarantee of equal protection.”⁠[5]

The 2023 ruling did not address military academies, and SFFA then sued West Point, the Air Force Academy and the Naval Academy. In January 2025 Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth barred race-based admissions at the academies; the Naval Academy case, in which a federal judge had upheld the academy’s policies in December 2024, was dismissed on appeal in July 2025 at both sides’ request.⁠[6]

On August 12, 2025, the Justice Department announced a settlement with SFFA dismissing the West Point and Air Force Academy cases, saying its terms help ensure admission is “based exclusively on merit, not race or ethnicity.”⁠[7]

Data released in October 2026 showed Asian American students at 43.2% of Harvard’s Class of 2030, up from 41% and 37% in the two previous classes; the Black share fell for a third straight year to 9.3%, and Hispanic or Latino students were 11.4%. Since the Class of 2028, Harvard has calculated shares only among students who disclose their race, complicating comparisons.⁠[8]

Harvard notes that the figures cover only U.S. citizens and permanent residents who chose to report race or ethnicity, and that students may select more than one category.⁠[9]

SFFA describes itself as a nonprofit membership group of more than 20,000 students, parents and others who believe racial classifications and preferences in admissions are “unfair, unnecessary, and unconstitutional,” and says its mission is to support and participate in litigation.⁠[10]

In fiscal 2025 SFFA had revenue of about $1.43 million and expenses of about $1.64 million; its fiscal 2024 revenue was about $4.96 million. Its officers include president Edward Blum, treasurer Richard Fisher and secretary Abigail Fisher.⁠[2]