## Facts

- François Daniel Lesage applied to the University of Texas Ph.D. program in counseling psychology for the 1996–1997 academic year and was denied admission.
- The program received 223 applications and offered admission to roughly 20 candidates.
- The University considered applicants’ race at some stage of the admissions review process.
- Lesage sued for damages and injunctive relief, alleging the race-conscious process violated the Fourteenth Amendment Equal Protection Clause and 42 U.S.C. §§ 1981, 1983, and 2000d.
- The University asserted Lesage would have been denied admission even under a race-neutral process, citing stronger applicants and the weakness of his application.
- The district court granted summary judgment for the University, finding race had no effect on Lesage’s rejection.
- The Fifth Circuit reversed, reasoning that use of race in the process created an actionable injury for § 1983 damages and that factual disputes remained about whether Lesage was eliminated at a race-conscious stage.

## Issues

1. Whether a plaintiff may obtain § 1983 damages for an allegedly race-conscious admissions decision when the government conclusively shows it would have made the same denial under a race-neutral policy.
2. Whether past use of race, without an ongoing or imminent violation affecting the plaintiff’s ability to compete equally, supports forward-looking relief.

## Decision

- The Supreme Court unanimously reversed and remanded in a per curiam opinion.
- The Court held that summary judgment should be granted against a § 1983 damages claim when the government conclusively proves it would have made the same decision absent the challenged consideration of race.
- The Court distinguished prospective challenges to ongoing race-conscious programs, which may proceed on an “equal footing” theory, from claims lacking any allegation of an ongoing or imminent violation.
- The Court left for remand whether claims under §§ 1981 and 2000d remained and whether injunctive relief had been abandoned.

## Legal Principles

- In a § 1983 damages action challenging an adverse decision allegedly infected by an impermissible criterion, the government avoids liability by proving it would have made the same decision absent the forbidden consideration (the *Mt. Healthy* same-decision rule).
- The *Mt. Healthy* same-decision framework applies to equal protection race-discrimination claims, not only to First Amendment retaliation claims.
- A plaintiff seeking prospective relief against an ongoing race-conscious program may establish injury by showing inability to compete on an equal footing, but that theory requires an ongoing or imminent constitutional violation.
- When no ongoing or imminent violation is alleged and the government conclusively shows the same decision would have occurred under a lawful process, liability for that adverse decision is precluded.

## Conclusion

The Court held that a plaintiff cannot recover § 1983 damages for a race-conscious admissions denial if the government conclusively proves the applicant would have been rejected under a race-neutral process, and it remanded for consideration of any remaining statutory or prospective-relief claims.


Texas v. Lesage, 528 U.S. 18 (1999)