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April 20, 2004

Augustana Speaker Addresses Affirmative Action

SIOUX FALLS - Kirk Kolbo, who argued two affirmative action cases that are widely viewed as the U.S. Supreme Court's most important pronouncement on the subject in recent history, speaks at Augustana College On Thursday, May 13.

His presentation, "The Road Not Taken: Affirmative Action and American Higher Education," begins at 10:00 a.m. in the Chapel of Reconciliation on the Augustana campus. The talk is free and open to the public.

Kolbo is a native of Aberdeen, S.D., and graduated magna cum laude from Augustana in 1979.

He argued the cases, which involved two challenges to the use of affirmative action in university admissions, back-to-back before the justices on April 1, 2003. Kolbo, representing the students challenging the admissions process, won one case and lost the other.

In Grutter V. Bollinger, the nation's highest court ruled 5-4 that the University of Michigan Law School did not violate the U.S. Constitution in using race as a factor in its admission process. However, in the companion case, Gratz v. Bollinger, the plaintiffs prevailed when the court struck down the more aggressive affirmative action policy used by the University of Michigan in selecting undergraduates, which involved awarding points to applicants on their race. In the Gratz case, the court found the system was too much like a quota.

Most lawyers will never know what it's like to argue a case at the U.S. Supreme Court, let alone one with this historical significance.

"It's a once-in-a-lifetime experience and I mean that in two ways," says Kolbo, in the February 16, 2004 edition of Minnesota Lawyer. "It's a great honor and privilege - and I don't ever what to go through it again. When you're in the midst of working on it you can put the pressure aside, but there are times when you are a little bit overwhelmed. That was most true in the week or two leading up to the oral argument when I realized what had to be done."

Kolbo practices law in Minneapolis, where he is a partner with Maslon Edelman Borman & Brand. In 2003 he was named one of Minnesota's "Attorneys of the Year" by Minnesota Lawyer.