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As an illustration ofthe far-reaching impact of circuit court judges,consider the decision in a case involving the Fifth Circuit.For several years the University ofTexas Law School (as well as many other law schools across the country) had been granting preference to African Ameri-can and Mexican American applicants to increase the enrollment ofminority stu-dents.This practice was challenged in a federal dis-trict court on the ground that it discriminated against white and nonpre-ferred minority applicants in violation ofthe Four-teenth Amendment.On March 18,1996,a panel of Fifth Circuit judges ruled in Hopwood v.Texas that the Fourteenth Amendment does not permit the school to discriminate in this way and that the law school may not use race as a factor in law school admissions.The U.S.Supreme Court denied a petition for a writ of certiorari in the case,thus leaving it the law of the land in Texas,Louisiana,and Mississippi,the states comprising the Fifth Circuit.Although it may technically be true that only schools in the Fifth Circuit are affected by the ruling,an editorial in The National Law Journal indi-cates otherwise,noting that while some “might argue that Hop-woods impact is limited to three state in the South...,the truth is that across the country law school (and other)deans,fearing similar litigation,are scrambling to come up with an alter-native to affirmative action.”