## Facts

- Guadalupe Gonzalez, a Mexican-American applicant, sought admission to a private law school for the fall 1975 entering class and was denied.
- She sued the university under 42 U.S.C. §§ 1981, 1982, and 1983, alleging race-based discrimination in admissions.
- She moved for a preliminary injunction requiring immediate admission for the fall 1975 term.
- She also sought class certification on behalf of minority applicants allegedly affected by discriminatory admissions practices.
- The district court held an expedited multi-day evidentiary hearing shortly before the term began.
- The district court denied both the preliminary injunction and class certification, and Gonzalez appealed.

## Issues

1. Whether the district court abused its discretion in denying a preliminary injunction compelling the law school to admit Gonzalez for the fall 1975 term.
2. Whether the district court erred in denying class certification for minority applicants challenging the school’s admissions practices.

## Decision

- The Fifth Circuit affirmed the denial of the preliminary injunction.
- The court held Gonzalez failed to satisfy the prerequisites for preliminary injunctive relief, particularly a substantial likelihood of success on the merits.
- The court affirmed the denial of class certification, finding no reversible error in the district court’s refusal to allow the case to proceed as a class action on the record presented.

## Legal Principles

- A preliminary injunction requires: (1) substantial likelihood of success on the merits, (2) threat of irreparable injury, (3) a balance of harms favoring the movant, and (4) consistency with the public interest; denial is reviewed for abuse of discretion.
- 42 U.S.C. § 1983 does not reach purely private acts of racial discrimination absent state action.
- 42 U.S.C. § 1982 can reach private discrimination, but it requires an implicated property interest; denial of law school admission was not treated as such an interest here.
- A discriminatory denial of admission by a private school may state a claim under 42 U.S.C. § 1981 (contract-making and enforcement), but at the preliminary-injunction stage the movant must make a strong factual showing supporting likely success.

## Conclusion

The Fifth Circuit upheld the district court’s refusal to order emergency admission and to certify a class because Gonzalez did not demonstrate the required showing for preliminary injunctive relief and the district court did not commit reversible error in rejecting class treatment on the record before it.


Gonzalez v. S. Methodist Univ., 536 F.2d 1071 (5th Cir. 1976)