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OPINION AND ORDER GRANTING IN PART AND DENYING IN PART UNIVERSITY DEFENDANTS’ MOTION TO DISMISS, DENYING CANTRELL PLAINTIFFS’ MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT, GRANTING ATTORNEY GENERAL’S MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT, AND DISMISSING CONSOLIDATED CASES DAVID M. LAWSON, District Judge. The plaintiffs in these consolidated actions challenge the constitutionality of an amendment to Michigan’s state constitution that was adopted by a majority vote of the electorate at the November 2006 election. The amendment, referred to throughout this opinion as Proposal 2, prohibits the State and its political subdivisions from “discriminating] against, or granting] preferential treatment to, any individual or group on the basis of race, sex, color, ethnicity, or national origin in the operation of public employment, public education, or public contracting.” Mich. Const, art. I, § 26(1). Before the Court are several dispositive motions filed by the parties, which were fully briefed and presented at oral argument held on February 6, 2008. For reasons discussed in detail below, the Court determines that there are no material fact issues that require a trial on any of the claims, and the Court must find that Proposal 2 does not violate the United States Constitution. Therefore, the Court will grant in part and deny in part the university defendants’ motion to dismiss, deny the Cantrell plaintiffs’ motion for summary judgment, grant the attorney general’s motion for summary judgment, and dismiss these consolidated cases. I. Facts and Proceedings A. Background In the 1960s, minority racial groups in Michigan began lobbying the University of Michigan Board of Regents to consider an applicant’s race in making admissions determinations, thereby treating minority status as a positive factor. In 1992, the University of Michigan law school crafted an admission policy that used an applicant’s race as one of many factors in assembling classes consisting of “a mix of students with varying backgrounds and experiences who will respect and learn from each other.” Grutter v. Bollinger, 539 U.S. 306, 314, 123 S.Ct. 2325, 156 L.Ed.2d 304 (2003) (internal quotes omitted). The undergraduate school considered race in its admissions decisions since at least 1995. Gratz v. Bollinger, 539 U.S. 244, 254-55, 123 S.Ct. 2411, 156 L.Ed.2d 257 (2003). In 1997, white applicants who were rejected under those systems challenged the state schools’ admission policies in federal court, arguing that they violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment because race was considered as a factor in deciding whom to admit. However, the Supreme Court eventually held that “student body diversity is a compelling state interest that can justify the use of race in university admissions.” Grutter, 539 U.S. at 325, 123 S.Ct. 2325. In the case of the law school, the Court held that its admissions system “bears the hallmarks of a narrowly tailored plan,” id. at 334, 123 S.Ct. 2325, and upheld it against the constitutional challenge. The Court invalidated the undergraduate school’s program because it resembled a quota system bereft of the necessary individualized consideration found in the law school’s program, and therefore the system was not narrowly tailored to achieve the compelling state interest. Gratz, 539 U.S. at 275-76, 123 S.Ct. 2411. Not satisfied with that result, the plaintiff in Gratz joined forces with Ward Con-nerly and the Michigan Civil Rights Initiative (MCRI) to place on the November 2006 statewide ballot a proposal to amend Michigan’s constitution to bar programs for state school admission, public employment, and public contracting that grant preferential treatment on the basis of race or gender. The petition drive eventually was designated officially as Proposal 06-2, although throughout the process and this litigation it is known as Proposal 2, and it has been characterized by the Michigan Attorney General at oral argument in this case as an anti-affirmative action measure. The signature-gathering phase of the initiative process generated considerable controversy. The Sixth Circuit found that “the solicitation and procurement of signatures in support of placing Proposal 2 on the general election ballot was rife with fraud and deception.... By all accounts, Proposal 2 found its way on the ballot through methods that undermine the integrity and fairness of our democratic processes.” Operation King’s Dream v. Connerly, 501 F.3d 584, 591 (6th Cir.2007). Nevertheless, Proposal 2 was allowed to remain on the ballot, and the Michigan voters approved the constitutional amendment with approximately 57.9% of the voters in favor and 43.1% disapproving. See State Proposal-06-2: Constitutional Amendment: Ban Affirmative Action Programs, at http://miboecfr. nictusa.com/election/results/06GEN/90000002.html (last visited Feb. 10, 2008). Only three of Michigan’s 83 counties rejected the measure; the rest approved it. Proposal 2 amended the state constitution by adding the following provisions: (1) The University of Michigan, Michigan State University, Wayne State University, and any other public college or university, community college, or school district shall not discriminate against, or grant preferential treatment to, any individual or group on the basis of race, sex, color, ethnicity, or national origin in the operation of public employment, public education, or public contracting. (2) The state shall not discriminate against, or grant preferential treatment to, any individual or group on the basis of race, sex, color, ethnicity, or national origin in the operation of public employment, public education, or public contracting. (3) For the purposes of this section “state” includes, but is not necessarily limited to, the state itself, any city, county, any public college, university, or community college, school district, or other political subdivision or governmental instrumentality of or within the State of Michigan not included in sub-section 1. (4) This section does not prohibit action that must be taken to establish or maintain eligibility for any federal program, if ineligibility would result in a loss of federal funds to the state. (5) Nothing in this section shall be interpreted as prohibiting bona fide qualifications based on sex that are reasonably necessary to the normal operation of public employment, public education, or public contracting. (6) The remedies available for violations of this section shall be the same, regardless of the injured party’s race, sex, color, ethnicity, or national origin, as are otherwise available for violations of Michigan anti-discrimination law. (7) This section shall be self-executing. If any part or parts of this section are found to be in conflict with the United States Constitution or federal law, the section shall be implemented to the maximum extent that the United States Constitution and federal law permit. Any provision held invalid shall be sev-erable from the remaining portions of this section. (8) This section applies only to action taken after the effective date of this section. (9) This section does not invalidate any court order or consent decree that is in force as of the effective date of this section. Mich. Const, art. I, § 26. Although an exit poll conducted by Edison Media Research found that 86% of black voters voted “No” on Proposal 2, the reliability of that poll has been questioned. See Eric Russell Resp. to Cantrell Mot. for Summ. J., Ex. 1, Wilson Dec. at ¶ 4 (explaining that the reliability of this figure cannot be determined without knowing the sample size and how many people refused to respond). The day after the election, a collection of interest groups and individuals (the Coalition plaintiffs) brought suit alleging that the state constitutional amendment violated the United States Constitution and federal law. They filed their complaint in this Court on November 8, 2006. Another group (the Cantrell plaintiffs) brought suit on December 19, 2006, contending that Proposal 2 was unconstitutional as it is applied to public colleges and universities. This Court consolidated these cases on January 5, 2007. Proposal 2 took effect on December 23, 2006. Although the Court granted the plaintiffs and the University defendants a measure of relief by entering a stipulated order temporarily enjoining Proposal 2’s implementation at Michigan’s universities, that injunction was short-lived. On December 29, 2006, the Sixth Circuit issued a stay of the injunction pending a full appeal as to the injunction only. See Coal. to Defend Affirmative Action v. Granholm, 473 F.3d 237, 253 (6th Cir.2006). That appeal subsequently was dismissed as moot, since the injunction merely put off the effective date of Proposal 2 until July 1, 2007. The universities thereafter implemented Proposal 2 and applied its requirements to the 2006-2007 admissions cycle. The Coalition plaintiffs amended their complaint on December 17, 2006, and again on March 28, 2007. The Cantrell plaintiffs amended their complaint on January 17, 2007. Thereafter, the Court instructed the parties to attempt a stipulation of facts that would have permitted the issues to be adjudicated promptly by dispositive motion, but the attempt failed and the parties proceeded with discovery. On May 15 and 16, 2007, the plaintiffs filed motions to certify the matter as a class action. Those motions were argued and taken under advisement, and they will be adjudicated in a separate order. On October 5, 2007, the Cantrell plaintiffs filed a motion for summary judgment as to intervening defendant Eric Russell. The University defendants filed their motion to dismiss on October 17, 2007. On November 30, 2007, the Michigan attorney general filed a motion to dismiss or for summary judgment, intervening defendant Russell filed a motion for summary judgment, and the Cantrell plaintiffs fled a motion for summary judgment. These motions were submitted for decision after oral argument on February 6, 2008. These motions raise issues of standing, the propriety of joining the Michigan universities as defendants, and challenges to the plaintiffs’ arguments that Proposal 2 violates the Equal Protection Clause, Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972. A discussion of the allegations in the complaints and the facts elicited through discovery, therefore, is necessary. B. The Amended Complaints 1. The Cantrell Plaintiffs The thrust of the Cantrell plaintiffs’ complaint is that Proposal 2 violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, but not in the traditional sense. Unlike the Coalition plaintiffs, whose complaint is discussed below, the Cantrell plaintiffs do not base their challenge on the argument that denying preferential treatment to minority students is unlawful per se, but rather on the idea that Proposal 2 places an undue burden on the ability of minority groups to effect changes in policy by altering the political structure. Their theory is tied to language in Hunter v. Erickson, 393 U.S. 385, 89 S.Ct. 557, 21 L.Ed.2d 616 (1969), Washington v. Seattle School Dist. No. 1, 458 U.S. 457, 102 S.Ct. 3187, 73 L.Ed.2d 896 (1982), and Romer v. Evans, 517 U.S. 620, 116 S.Ct. 1620, 134 L.Ed.2d 855 (1996). The Cantrell plaintiffs exclusively challenge Proposal 2 as it is applied to Michigan’s public universities, and the University of Michigan in particular. The named plaintiffs are eighteen individuals who all bear some connection to the University of Michigan and believe Proposal 2 is bad for that institution’s future. Three of the named plaintiffs are students at the law school; four are undergraduate students; six are high school students who plan to apply to the university; one is a Ph.D. candidate; and four are professors. The majority of the named plaintiffs are members of a minority racial group, although a handful are Caucasians who believe that racial diversity is important to their educational experience. The plaintiffs purport to “represent a class of all present and future students and faculty at the University of Michigan who applied to, matriculated at, or continue to be enrolled at or employed by the University of Michigan in reliance upon the University’s representation that it would continue to admit and enroll a diverse group of students at the school consistent with its former policies, which took race into account among other factors.” Cantrell Amend. Compl. at ¶ 31. These plaintiffs claim that Proposal 2 places an undue political burden on individuals or groups who would seek to alter public university polices regarding the consideration of race in the admissions process, because the only way to alter the policy is a state-wide ballot initiative rather than a petition to the governing body of the university, to which they would have had access before Proposal 2’s passage. According to the Cantrell plaintiffs, persons seeking to alter admissions policies with respect to other factors, such as legacy status or geographic origin, can simply appeal to the individual colleges or schools. On the other hand, “[t]his avenue is foreclosed ... to those seeking beneficial admissions policies that include consideration of race ... in the decision-making process.” Id. at ¶ 51. These plaintiffs support their claim that obtaining a voter-approved constitutional amendment is more difficult than successfully petitioning individual university governing bodies to alter admissions policies by alleging, inter alia, the fact that access to the state ballot requires gathering signatures totaling “ ‘not less than eight percent ... of the total vote cast for all candidates for governor at the last preceding general election.’ ” Id. at ¶ 53 (quoting Mich. Const, art. 2, § 9). Citing Hunter and Seattle for the proposition that “a state law violates the Equal Protection Clause when it ‘disadvantage(s) any particular group by making it more difficult to enact legislation in its behalf,’ ” Cantrell Amend. Compl. at ¶ 57 (quoting Hunter, 393 U.S. at 393, 89 S.Ct. 557, and citing Seattle, 458 U.S. at 468, 102 S.Ct. 3187), the Cantrell plaintiffs argue that “[b]y creating a political process that sets aside race, among other categories, for consideration ‘at a new and remote level of government,’ Proposal 2 imposes a ‘substantial and unique burden on racial minorities.’ ” Id. at ¶ 58 (quoting Seattle, 458 U.S. at 470, 483, 102 S.Ct. 3187). Based on this theory, the plaintiffs seek to permanently enjoin application of Proposal 2 at the University of Michigan and other public universities. 2. The Coalition Plaintiffs Like the Cantrell plaintiffs, the Coalition plaintiffs focus principally, if not exclusively, on Proposal 2’s impact on public universities. In contrast to the Cantrell plaintiffs, however, the Coalition plaintiffs include persons and entities that bear a connection to schools other than the University of Michigan. The named plaintiffs include the following organizations and individuals: (1) the Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action, Integration, and Immigrant Rights and Fight for Equality By Any Means Necessary (BAMN); (2) the United for Equality and Affirmative Action Legal Defense Fund (UEAALDF), a non-profit corporation founded by BAMN; (3) the Rainbow PUSH coalition; (4) the Defend Affirmative Action Party (DAAP), a student organization at the University of Michigan; (5) some twenty-seven minority high school students who plan to attend either the University of Michigan, Michigan State University, or Wayne State University; (6) three recent graduates from the University of California at Berkeley who plan to attend graduate school at one of either Michigan, Michigan State, or Wayne State; (7) two minority community college students who plan to apply to either Michigan, Michigan State, or Wayne State; (8) three other individuals with “substantial college credits” who plan to apply to either Michigan, Michigan State, or Wayne State; (9) one minority student currently attending Michigan; (10) an individual who helped circulate the petition for Proposal 2; and (11) six local unions with large minority memberships. The named plaintiffs purport to represent three classes of individuals: the first class is comprised of all African American, Latino, and Native American applicants to or students at Michigan, Michigan State, and Wayne State; the second class is made up of all women applicants to or students at those schools; and the third includes all African American, Latino, and Native American citizens who want to lobby for or vote for changes in the admission and other policies at the University of Michigan, Michigan State University, and Wayne State University that benefit African American, Latino, and Native American citizens. These plaintiffs present a political-burden argument that is similar to the one made by the Cantrell plaintiffs, except that it extends to gender. The Coalition plaintiffs also claim that Proposal 2 directly discriminates against university applicants on the basis of their race and gender because “Proposal 2 has as its primary aim reducing the admission of black, Latino, and Native American students and of women students into some programs,” Coalition Sec. Am. Compl. at ¶ 107, by eliminating the “desegregation plans that have resulted in the admission of significant numbers” of such students, id. at ¶ 106. Paradoxically, the Coalition plaintiffs contend that elimination of so-called preferential treatment actually amounts to discrimination, explaining: In its history, in its evident purpose, in its defiance of the state tradition of control of the universities by the governing boards, and in its adoption of explicit race and gender classifications, Proposal 2 violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment by intentionally discriminating against black, Latino/a, Native American and women students. Id. at ¶ 111. In addition, the Coalition plaintiffs contend that Proposal 2 violates the First Amendment and is preempted by Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972. The Coalition plaintiffs’ First Amendment argument is premised on the Supreme Court’s pronouncement in Grutter v. Bollinger that institutions of higher learning have a right to academic freedom rooted in that Amendment. According to the Coalition plaintiffs, universities have a First Amendment right to consider race and gender in the selection of faculty and students in order to promote diversity and fruitful education; and students, in turn, are the beneficiaries of that right, which Proposal 2 violates. The Coalition plaintiffs also argue that Proposal 2 conflicts with Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and is therefore preempted by that Act. They contend that Title VI, specifically 42 U.S.C. § 2000d, prohibits race- and national origin-based discrimination in programs that receive federal funding. Pursuant to Title VI, the Department of Education promulgated regulations that prohibit universities receiving federal funds from using admission criteria that either discriminate on the basis of race or impede the goal of eliminating racial discrimination. See 34 C.F.R. 100.3(b)(2). In light of California’s experience with Proposition 209, the Coalition plaintiffs allege that Proposal 2 will “result in a devastating decline in the number of black, Latino/a and Native American students, in direct violation of the purpose of Title VI and of the specific prohibitions of the regulations that implement Title VI.” Coalition Sec. Amend. Compl. at ¶ 127. Finally, the Coalition plaintiffs claim that Proposal 2 is preempted by Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, the gender-based analog to Title VI. See 20 U.S.C. § 1681; 34 C.F.R. § 106.23. Based on these claims, the Coalition plaintiffs ask the Court to enjoin permanently the implementation of Proposal 2 at the University of Michigan, Michigan State University, and Wayne State University. C. Facts Presented From Discovery The information gathered by the parties through discovery falls into two categories: the prospect for minority enrollment after Proposal 2’s implementation compared with beforehand; and the difficulty involved in amending the state constitution. 1. Minority Admissions Before and After Proposal 2 Pursuant to the state constitution, the University of Michigan, Michigan State University, and Wayne State University are controlled by boards of regents. Mich. Const, art. VIII, § 5. These boards are endowed with a high degree of autonomy; each enjoys the power of “general supervision of its institution and the control and direction of all expenditures from the institution’s funds.” Ibid. These governing bodies have delegated the responsibility to establish admissions policies to departments within the respective institutions. These “admitting units” have “establish[ed] admissions systems that allow for the consideration of a variety of factors.” Cantrell Mot. for Summ. J as to Russell [dkt # 172], Ex. I, Univ. RFA Resp. at ¶ 5. Over time and partly as a result of lobbying efforts, the universities’ admissions systems and standards have evolved. Students and other individuals have always been “free to lobby the Universities for or against the adoption of particular admissions policies.” Id. at ¶ 7. Beginning in the 1960s, African Americans and other groups of minorities lobbied for the consideration of race in admissions, and it appears that the universities embraced the concept. As noted above, in 2003 the United States Supreme Court weighed in on the legitimacy of the admissions policies at Michigan and Michigan Law in Gratz v. Bollinger and Grutter v. Bollinger, invalidating the undergraduate admission plan and sustaining the law school’s plan. Following these decisions, Michigan amended its undergraduate admissions policy to comply with the Supreme Court’s instruction. According to Theodore Spencer, associate vice-provost and director of undergraduate admissions, the Grutter decision provided a “great road map of what a holistic [and permissible] review process should look like.” Cantrell Mot. for Summ. J., Ex. D, Spencer Dep. at 38. The key to this “holistic” process was that no single factor was dispositive. “[HJolistic means that the decisions are not just based on grades and test scores, it means that it’s not just based on perhaps being an alum or any one particular factor, race or anything else, but rather on the composite review of all the information that the student provides.” Ibid. Race was still considered, but admissions officers would consider “50 to 80 different categories” in conducting their review. Id. at 35. Frank H. Wu, dean at Wayne State University Law School, testified similarly that prior to Proposal 2, the admissions committee considered a wide variety of non-academic factors that “contribute to a diverse and engaged law student body.” Cantrell Mot. for Summ. J., Ex. F, Wu Dep. at 32. Therefore, if a minority applicant failed to possess an LSAT score and GPA that would on their own qualify her for admission, the admissions committee would consider race, in addition to other factors that might “reducef ] the reliability of GPA as an index of academic achievement and promise.” Ibid. In response to Proposal 2’s passage, the universities eliminated race from their admissions criteria but continued to consider various other non-academic factors, such as geography, alumni connections, socioeconomic status, and athletic ability. At Michigan Law, for instance, “the meat of th[e] [pre-Proposal 2] policy is the same [as the post-Proposal 2 policy] ... with the exception of race.” Cantrell Mot. for Summ. J., Ex. E, Zearfoss Dep. at 192. It is the undisputed testimony of university officials that Proposal 2 prohibits them from considering race to any degree. Based on the information offered by the parties, the most that can be said is that it is not clear exactly how Proposal 2 will affect minority admissions in the long run. What evidence there is suggests that minority admissions will fall at the state’s more selective schools, but the degree to which this will occur is subject to debate. Two different types of evidence have been submitted on the matter: (1) testimony by admissions officials; and (2) testimony by outside experts. Both draw heavily on California’s experience under Proposition 209. Theodore Spencer, Sarah Zearfoss (dean of admissions at Michigan Law), and Frank Wu all testified that Proposal 2 will depress minority enrollment. Spencer expressed doubts over the ability to maintain minority enrollment through the use of a proxy, like socioeconomic status. He explained that university officials in California, Washington, Texas, and Georgia (states with laws similar to Proposal 2) “cannot achieve the same sort of racial and ethnic diversity that they had prior to such measures ... without considering race.” Spencer Dep. at 100-01. Similarly, Zear-foss testified that she excepts a decline in minority admissions because, in her view, it is impossible “to get a critical mass of underrepresented minorities ... without considering race.” Zearfoss Dep. at 56-57, 193. Wu stated that although some creative approaches might mitigate the effects of Proposal 2, he “did not think that any one of these proposals or any combination of these proposals was reasonably likely to result in the admission of a class that had the same or similar or higher numbers of African Americans, Latinos and Native Americans as the prior policy.” Wu Dep. at 78. Even Ward Connerly, the architect of Proposal 2, admitted that, following the amendment, “the University of Michigan would be virtually resegregated as the University of California Berkeley and UCLA have,” Cantrell Mot. for Summ. J., Ex. K, Connerly Dep. at 120, although he stated that this was not his intent. In terms of expert testimony, the Cantrell plaintiffs offer the declarations of two purported experts in the field of race and admissions, William Bowen and Jeannie Oakes. Mr. Bowen is a former president of Princeton University and the author of two books on race-conscious admissions policies. In addition to highlighting the salutary effects of affirmative action, Bowen states that “[t]he available evidence indicates that race-neutral alternatives are unlikely to be as effective as race-conscious admissions in enrolling a diverse student body.” Cantrell Mot. for Summ. J., Ex. L, Bowen Decl. at ¶ 11. In particular, “income-based strategies are unlikely to be good substitutes” because, although African Americans and Latinos are “overrepresented in the country’s poor population, the great majority of that population is still white.” Id. at ¶ 12. Jeannie Oakes, Presidential Professor in Educational Equity at UCLA, is of a similar mind. In her study, Oakes “dr[ew] from the experiences of Texas and California and contrasted] relevant circumstances in these states with those in Michigan.” Cantrell Mot. for Summ. J., Ex. M, Oaks Deck, Ex. 1, The Viability of Race-Neutral Approaches for Achieving Diversity at the University of Michigan, at 2. In 2005 and 2006, Oakes found that blacks at the University of Michigan were underrepresented by almost 300% when compared with K-12 enrollment figures at public schools in the state. She used these and other pre-Proposal 2 figures to calibrate a baseline; she did not assume that these numbers constituted sufficient diversity, but simply inquired whether these levels (whether adequate or not) could be maintained. She stated her findings as follows: A. Race-neutral admissions strategies (e.g., Percent Plans) have not been effective as replacements for race-conscious strategies in maintaining or increasing diversity in the public universities in Texas and California, two states with restrictions on race-conscious practices in university admissions similar to those required under Michigan’s Proposal 2. Race-neutral Percent Plans that guarantee admission to the top ranked graduates of each public high school have not been successful in either California or Texas in maintaining levels of racial diversity comparable to those achieved with race-conscious policies prior to the Hopwood case in Texas or the passage of Proposition 209 in California that made race-conscious policies impermissible. B. Michigan differs from California and Texas in ways that make it even more unlikely that race-neutral approaches would result in the diversity required at the University of Michigan. In fact, such strategies would likely exclude from admission in-state African American and Latino high school graduates with academic preparation sufficient to succeed at the university. B.l. Whereas the top-tier universities in California and Texas draw their freshman classes almost exclusively from graduates of California [and Texas] high schools, a majority of those offered admission as first-time freshmen at the University of Michigan (including a majority of those from underrepresented minority groups) are not Michigan residents. Race-neutral admissions criteria (e.g., Percent Plans) and outreach strategies focused on Michigan high schools would not benefit the large percentage of underrepresented minority students who are drawn from other states. Moreover, given the substantially lower scores on academic admissions criteria of non-resident underrepresented admits, in comparison to non-underrepresented admits, few of these underrepresented out-of-state admits would likely be admitted were race not a consideration in the admissions processes. B.2. The high degree of racial segregation in Michigan high schools means that students from underrepresented minority groups are concentrated in a very small percentage of the state’s high schools. As a result, a plan guaranteeing admission to high ranking students at each of the state’s high schools would have its greatest benefit to students in schools with predominantly white populations and yield a relatively small number of underrepresented minority students. B.3. The small number of Michigan high schools with predominantly URM populations produces relatively few graduates with the academic records that would make them competitive for admission at the University of Michigan. This, in part, results from the relationship between the high concentration of poverty at racially isolated minority schools and the low level of opportunity associated with these schools. Lower levels of opportunity, in turn, affect the academic performance of students, specifically their ability to meet state standards on assessment tests, qualifying for state merit aid for college. These low levels of achievement are related to the racial and/or poverty composition of a student’s high school. Consequently, race-neutral “Percent Plans” would likely result in the admission of underrepresented minority students with academic preparedness far below that required to succeed in an “elite” university. Id. at 3-4. Although the defendants have not produced evidence directly contradicting these conclusions, they have taken the position that they are mere speculation. See Cox Resp. Br. at 20-21. In addition, defendant Eric Russell challenges the underlying assumption that preferential treatment is good for racial minorities. In support of this argument, he submits the declaration of Richard H. Sander, a law professor at UCLA who has garnered much attention for his development of the “mismatch effect” theory, first introduced in an article appearing in the Stanford Law Review. See A Systemic Analysis of Affirmative Action in American Law Schools, 57 Stan. L.Rev. 367 (2004). The driving principle of that theory is that affirmative action harms minorities in the long run by placing them in institutions where they cannot compete or keep up with the pace of instruction. According to Sander, this theory finds support in the case of the University of Michigan’s law school: data from 2004, 2005, and 2006 “show very large disparities in bar passage rates across racial lines,” with black graduates of Michigan Law “about eight times as likely to fail on their first attempt as were white graduates.” Russell Reply [dkt # 181], Ex. 1, Sander Decl. at ¶ 6. In addition, the Coalition plaintiffs offer evidence and argument that the conditions that necessitated resort to affirmative action programs to achieve parity in opportunity for minority students still exist after the passage of Proposal 2. They cite as examples de facto residential segregation, unequal resources for K through 12 schools for minorities, limited minority access to resources and programs, and racial stereotyping. According to Dr. Gary Orfield, who testified at the Grutter trial in this Court, even with affirmative action programs in effect, minority students’ SAT scores typically are significantly lower that white students’ scores regardless of income levels, and minority students do not have the same access to honors or advanced placement classes that can boost grade point average. Coalition Resp. Br., Ex. M, Orfield testimony, at 11, 92, 103-104. In 2005, the University of Michigan undergraduate program offered no admission to students from fourteen different Detroit high schools which are intensely segregated. Coalition Resp. Br., Ex. J, Miller Decl. at 9. The attorney general did not reply to the Coalition plaintiffs’ brief. Intervening defendant Russell replies to the Coalition plaintiffs’ arguments primarily by referring to Ward Connerly’s deposition testimony that he believes eliminating racial preferences favoring minorities will benefit minority students in the long run by eliminating artificial equalizers and forcing them to compete in the larger society on the basis of merit. 2. Difficulty Amending the State Constitution There is also some ambiguity concerning just how onerous it would be to secure an amendment repealing Proposal 2. Kristina Wilfore, executive director of Ballot Initiative Strategy Center, Inc., a non-profit organization that researches and trains people in the ballot initiative process, has submitted a declaration on behalf of the Cantrell plaintiffs positing that state-wide ballot initiatives are typically expensive and time-consuming and often unsuccessful. She has also suggested that repealing Proposal 2 would be particularly difficult due to unique features in Michigan’s ballot initiative process and specific factors inherent in the subject matter of affirmative action. According to Wilfore, Michigan poses obstacles because (1) it is a “politically competitive state ... with a large number of initiatives vying for voters’ attention on any given ballot”; (2) its media market is expensive when compared with other states; (3) the state constitution requires signatures from 8% of the total vote cast for all candidates for governor in the preceding general election; and (4) “Michigan has an unusually short time frame for the gathering of signatures and filing of petitions.” Cantrell Mot. for Summ. J, Ex. C, Wilfore Decl. at ¶¶ 29-32. In addition, she says that Proposal 2 would be particularly challenging to repeal due to the fact that (1) polling data regarding affirmative action is unreliable, i.e., individuals often behave differently when they get to the voting booth; (2) affirmative action is a tough cause to market because it is complex and elicits emotional responses; and (3) “[t]here is no single obvious financial benefactor who would support the pro-affirmative action policy.” Id. at ¶¶ 36-37. Intervening defendant Russell counters this evidence with the testimony of Jennifer Gratz, director of the Michigan Civil Rights Initiative Committee, who believes that “Ms. Wilfore exaggerates both the effort and expense associated with putting an initiative or referendum on the ballot in Michigan.” Russell Resp. Br., Ex. 3, Gratz Decl. at ¶4. According to Gratz, polling is not necessary; a popular initiative can be passed with less than $5 million; and Michigan does not have a particularly short signature-gathering period (California, Oklahoma, and Massachusetts have shorter periods). Moreover, the funding marshaled in opposition to Proposal 2 shows that monetary support would not be a major obstacle. “One United Michigan (‘OUM’), the ballot initiative committee that was the chief opponent of Proposal 2 in the 2006 election, received and spent just a little less than $4.8 million,” including contributions from General Motors Corporation, Chrysler Corporation, and Ford Motor Company. Id. at ¶¶ 10, 12. II. The University Defendants’ Motion The Coalition plaintiffs (but not the Cantrell plaintiffs) sued the university defendants seeking mandatory injunctive relief with respect to Proposal 2’s effect on admissions policies that include consideration of race. The university defendants now ask this Court to dismiss them from the action pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 21 on the grounds that they are not proper parties to the case. They also contend that Count 6 of the Coalition plaintiffs’ amended complaint— alleging a violation of the First Amendment — should be dismissed for lack of standing. As to the Rule 21 argument, the university defendants point out that although they must follow Proposal 2, they did not draft or enact it; they cannot repeal it, amend it, or ignore it; and they have no responsibility to enforce it against anyone or defend it in court. Therefore, they argue, they are not proper parties from whom relief can be obtained. The university defendants contend that the Coalition plaintiffs have no standing to assert a First Amendment claim because the right to academic freedom does not belong to any of the plaintiffs, but rather to the universities. Because of Supreme Court authority generally stating that there is a prohibition against asserting the constitutional rights of others, these defendants argue that the Coalition plaintiffs cannot establish standing. Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 21 states: Misjoinder of parties is not a ground for dismissing an action. On motion or on its own, the court may at any time, on just terms, add or drop a party. The court may also sever any claim against a party. Fed.R.Civ.P. 21. The Rule allows dismissal of misjoined parties; “[t]he cases make it clear that parties are misjoined when they fail to satisfy either of the preconditions for permissive joinder of parties set forth in Rule 20(a).” 7 Wright, Miller & Kane, Federal Practice and Procedure § 1683 (3d ed.2001) (citing Michaels Bldg. Co. v. Ameritrust Co., 848 F.2d 674 (6th Cir.1988)). According to Rule 20, defendants are properly joined when the claims asserted against them arise from a common transaction or occurrence and those claims present some common question of law or fact. Fed.R.Civ.P. 20(a). With these criteria in mind, the Sixth Circuit has held that dismissal for misjoinder is proper where the party is not responsible for the alleged harm and does not have the power to accord relief. See Sutherland v. Mich. Dep’t of Treas., 344 F.3d 603, 612-13 (6th Cir.2003) (approving dismissal of the State of Michigan where the only claim brought against the State was for employment discrimination and the State was not the plaintiffs employer). The one instance where a court may dismiss a party under Rule 21 notwithstanding her satisfaction of the Rule 20(a) requirements lies in the context of diversity jurisdiction. See Soberay Mach. & Equip. Co. v. MRF Ltd., 181 F.3d 759, 763 (6th Cir.1999) (noting that “[i]t is well settled that Rule 21 invests district courts with authority to allow a dispensable nondiverse party to be dropped at any time, even after judgment has been rendered,” to preserve complete diversity). The Court believes that the university defendants are properly joined as parties to this case, and dismissal for misjoinder is not appropriate, because the claims brought against the universities are intertwined with those challenging Proposal 2 in general. The Coalition plaintiffs allege that it is discriminatory (in a conventional sense) to abolish preferential treatment in admissions policies, and both groups of plaintiffs claim that Proposal 2’s impact on admissions amounts to a discriminatory restructuring of the political process. Because the claims against the university defendants and the attorney general share common questions of law and fact and arise out of the same occurrence, the preconditions of joinder under Rule 20(a) have been met, and dismissal is unwarranted. Although it is true that the universities are not responsible for the alleged harm resulting from the passage of Proposal 2, and they have no authority to repeal it, striking down that amendment would not grant the plaintiffs the relief they ultimately seek without action on the universities’ part. If this Court were to find Proposal 2 unconstitutional, affirmative action would not automatically be reinstated into the admissions process. Rather, the universities would have to choose to do so on their own. And given the undeniable stake that the universities have in all these issues, it would simply be inappropriate to cast them aside, even if they desire the ultimate result the plaintiffs seek to achieve. The standing issue requires a different analysis. A plaintiff who establishes Article III standing requirements faces the additional “rule that a party ‘generally must assert his own legal rights and interests, and cannot rest his claim to relief on the legal rights or interests of third parties.’” Kowalski v. Tesmer, 543 U.S. 125, 129, 125 S.Ct. 564, 160 L.Ed.2d 519 (2004) (quoting Warth v. Seldin, 422 U.S. 490, 499, 95 S.Ct. 2197, 45 L.Ed.2d 343 (1975)). There is an “exception” to this rule when “the party asserting the right has a ‘close’ relationship with the person who possesses the right,” and “there is a ‘hindrance’ to the possessor’s ability to protect his own interests.” Id. at 130, 125 S.Ct. 564. The “close relationship” element requires consideration of whether “ ‘the relationship between the litigant and the third party [is] such that the former is fully, or very nearly, as effective a proponent of the right as the latter.’ ” Powers v. Ohio, 499 U.S. 400, 413, 111 S.Ct. 1364, 113 L.Ed.2d 411 (1991) (quoting Singleton v. Wulff, 428 U.S. 106, 115, 96 S.Ct. 2868, 49 L.Ed.2d 826 (1976)). This prudential barrier is also “ ‘lessenfed]’ ” in cases involving a First Amendment attack, but only when the challenge is premised on vagueness or overbreadth. Kowalski, 543 U.S. at 130, 125 S.Ct. 564; Prime Media, Inc. v. City of Brentwood, 485 F.3d 343, 348 (6th Cir.2007) (citing Broadrick v. Oklahoma, 413 U.S. 601, 612, 93 S.Ct. 2908, 37 L.Ed.2d 830 (1973)); Brandywine, Inc. v. City of Richmond, Kentucky, 359 F.3d 830, 835 (6th Cir.2004) (“[Plaintiffs may not assert third party standing in every First Amendment facial challenge; rather plaintiffs may only do so in vagueness and overbreadth challenges.”). Proposal 2' is not challenged here on grounds of vagueness or overbreadth. Rather, the right upon which the Coalition plaintiffs focus is the First Amendment right to academic freedom, which began to take shape in the concurring opinion of Justice Felix Frankfurter in Sweezy v. New Hampshire, 354 U.S. 234, 77 S.Ct. 1203, 1 L.Ed.2d 1311 (1957), where he stated: It is the business of a university to provide that atmosphere which is most conducive to speculation, experiment and creation. It is an atmosphere in which there prevail ‘the four essential freedoms’ of a university- — to determine for itself on academic grounds who may teach, what may be taught, how it shall be taught, and who may be admitted to study. Id. at 263, 77 S.Ct. 1203 (Frankfurter, J., concurring) (internal quotes omitted). In Regents of University of Michigan v. Ewing, 474 U.S. 214, 106 S.Ct. 507, 88 L.Ed.2d 523 (1985), the Court noted that academic freedom embodies both a freedom among professors and students to express ideas and “somewhat inconsistently, on autonomous decisionmaking by the academy itself.” Id. at 226 n. 12, 106 S.Ct. 507 (citing University of California Regents v. Bakke, 438 U.S. 265, 312, 98 S.Ct. 2733, 57 L.Ed.2d 750 (1978) (opinion of Powell, J.) and Sweezy v. New Hampshire, 354 U.S. at 263, 77 S.Ct. 1203 (Frankfurter, J., concurring in result)). “Discretion to determine, on academic grounds, who may be admitted to study, has been described as one of ‘the four essential freedoms’ of a university.” Ibid. Justice Powell, in providing the fifth vote to uphold the affirmative action program in Bakke, implied that the university’s academic freedom had a constitutional dimension by emphasizing that “[a]cademic freedom, though not a specifically enumerated constitutional right, long has been viewed as a special concern of the First Amendment. The freedom of a university to make its own judgments as to education includes the selection of its student body.” Bakke, 438 U.S. at 312, 98 S.Ct. 2733 (Powell, J.). Yet Justice Powell noted that “[although a university must have wide discretion in making the sensitive judgments as to who should be admitted, constitutional limitations protecting individual rights may not be disregarded.” Id. at 314, 98 S.Ct. 2733. The idea of academic autonomy in the area of admissions provided an important foundational element for the majority in Grutter v. Bollinger in upholding Michigan Law’s affirmative action program. The Court determined that the university’s interest in obtaining a diverse student body was a compelling state interest, choosing to “defer” to the “Law School’s educational judgment.” Grutter, 539 U.S. at 328, 123 S.Ct. 2325. It is plain that the First Amendment right to academic freedom in the area of admissions belongs to the universities. Yet the Coalition plaintiffs insist that they have standing to assert their own First Amendment right to a racially diverse education because students are the primary beneficiaries of the right to academic freedom. They argue in the alternative that to the extent that academic freedom rights are the exclusive province of universities, they have third-party standing to assert the right. Both of these positions, however, are fundamentally at odds with the academy’s right to determine who may be admitted to study. In making their argument that Proposal 2 is unconstitutional because it denies students the right to a racially diverse educational environment, the Coalition plaintiffs necessarily must claim a right unto themselves to select — or at least influence — -who may be admitted to the universities. However, under the First Amendment, that right does not belong to them, but to the academy. The Grutter Court explained: We have long recognized that, given the important purpose of public education and the expansive freedoms of speech and thought associated with the university environment, universities occupy a special niche in our constitutional tradition. See, e.g., Wieman v. Updegraff, 344 U.S. 183, 195, 73 S.Ct. 215, 97 L.Ed. 216 (1952) (Frankfurter, J., concurring); Sweezy v. New Hampshire, 354 U.S. 234, 250, 77 S.Ct. 1203, 1 L.Ed.2d 1311 (1957); Shelton v. Tucker, 364 U.S. 479, 487, 81 S.Ct. 247, 5 L.Ed.2d 231 (1960); Keyishian v. Board of Regents of Univ. of State of New York, 385 U.S. at 603, 87 S.Ct. 675. In announcing the principle of student body diversity as a compelling state interest, Justice Powell invoked our cases recognizing a constitutional dimension, grounded in the First Amendment, of educational autonomy: “The freedom of a university to make its own judgments as to education includes the selection of its student body.” Bakke, supra, at 312, 98 S.Ct. 2733. From this premise, Justice Powell reasoned that by claiming “the right to select those students who will contribute the most to the ‘robust exchange of ideas,’ ” a university “seek[s] to achieve a goal that is of paramount importance in the fulfillment of its mission.” 438 U.S., at 313, 98 S.Ct. 2733 (quoting Keyishian v. Board of Regents of Univ. of State of New York, supra, at 603, 87 S.Ct. 675). Grutter, 539 U.S. at 329, 123 S.Ct. 2325. Consistent with this view, Justice Powell in Bakke and the Court in Grutter invoked this right as a shield for the universities against the claims of students seeking admission on equal protection grounds. These precedents convince the Court that the Coalition plaintiffs do not have a personal right to a diverse student body grounded in the First Amendment. Their third-party standing argument likewise does not find support in the jurisprudence. Schools routinely are granted standing to seek redress for injuries to their students. Runyon v. McCrary, 427 U.S. 160, 175 n. 13, 96 S.Ct. 2586, 49 L.Ed.2d 415 (1976) (“It is clear that the schools have standing to assert these arguments [involving the student’s right to privacy and free association and the parent’s right to direct the child’s education] on behalf of their patrons.”); Ohio Ass’n of Independent Schools v. Goff, 92 F.3d 419, 422 (6th Cir.1996) (holding that “schools ... have standing to assert the constitutional right of parents to direct their children’s education”). Other business enterprises may assert the rights of their costumers. Craig v. Boren, 429 U.S. 190, 195, 97 S.Ct. 451, 50 L.Ed.2d 397 (1976) (holding that vendor of alcoholic beverages may assert equal protection claims of male patrons and stating “vendors and those in like positions have been uniformly permitted to resist efforts at restricting their operations by acting as advocates of the rights of third parties who seek access to their market or function”); Connection Distributing Co. v. Reno, 154 F.3d 281, 295 (6th Cir.1998) (holding that newsletter may assert rights of readers in first amendment challenge because readers value anonymity and may be unwilling to come forward). However, the courts have not been as willing to permit students to assert the rights of their schools. See, e.g., Eulitt ex rel. Eulitt v. Maine, 386 F.3d 344, 352 (1st Cir.2004) (holding that students could not assert Equal Protection Clause rights of school because there was no showing that the school lacked the ability to assert its own rights, and because the student may not share the interest of the school). In fact, it would be ironic if the plaintiffs here are permitted to sue the universities to assert the universities’ rights. The Coalition plaintiffs cannot establish the grounds for third-party standing to assert a First Amendment claim for two more reasons. First, the students lack a “close relationship” with the universities within the framework of academic freedom. See Powers, 499 U.S. at 413, 111 S.Ct. 1364. As noted above, it is the universities that enjoy the right to chose which students to admit, a right that inherently is in tension with the interests of students and prospective students seeking to influence the admissions system. Second, the students have not established that the universities are burdened by some hindrance to the assertion of their First Amendment rights. The universities have mounted a rigorous defense of their admissions policies in the past. Even in the present case, although nominal defendants, the universities supported the initial injunction to postpone the effective date of Proposal 2 and pressed an academic freedom argument before the Sixth Circuit on appeal of that injunction. See Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action v. Granholm, 473 F.3d 237, 247 (6th Cir.2006). Because the Coalition plaintiffs lack standing to assert their First Amendment claim, the Court will grant the universities’ motion to dismiss Count 6 of the Coalition plaintiffs’ amended complaint. III. The Attorney General’s Motion and the Cantrell Plaintiffs’ Motion Attorney General Cox has moved in the alternative to dismiss under Rule 12(b)(6) or for summary judgment under Rule 56(c). Although a party may file a motion for summary judgment that is contingent upon the court’s denial of its motion for dismissal, if matters outside the pleadings are submitted, the motion more properly should be considered under Rule 56, and courts will treat the motion as one for summary judgment. Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(b) (stating that “if, on a motion ... to dismiss for failure of the pleading to state a claim upon which relief can be granted, matters outside the pleading are presented to and not excluded by the court, the motion shall be treated as one for summary judgment and disposed of as provided in Rule 56”); Michigan Paytel Joint Venture v. City of Detroit, 287 F.3d 527, 533 (6th Cir.2002) (quoting Soper v. Hoben, 195 F.3d 845, 850 (6th Cir.1999)). The parties have filed a number of exhibits with their motions. These documents plainly are relevant to the defendant’s motion and should be examined by the Court. Therefore, the Court will treat the motion as one for summary judgment and apply the standards required by Rule 56. Summary judgment is appropriate “if the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, and admissions on file, together with the affidavits, if any, show that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact.” Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(c). The Cantrell plaintiffs and the defendants have filed cross motions for summary judgment, which might imply that there are no facts in dispute. Nonetheless, the Court must apply the well-recognized standards when deciding such cross motions; “[t]he fact that the parties have filed cross-motions for summary judgment does not mean, of course, that summary judgment for one side or the other is necessarily appropriate.” Parks v. LaFace Records, 329 F.3d 437, 444 (6th Cir.2003). Therefore, when this Court considers cross motions for summary judgment, it “must evaluate each motion on its own merits and view all facts and inferences in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party.” Westfield Ins. Co. v. Tech Dry, Inc., 336 F.3d 503, 506 (6th Cir.2003). A motion for summary judgment under Fed.R.Civ.P. 56 presumes the absence of a genuine issue of material fact for trial. The Court must view the evidence and draw all reasonable inferences in favor of the non-moving party and determine “whether the evidence presents a sufficient disagreement to require submission to a jury or whether it is so one-sided that one party must prevail as a matter of law.” Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 251-52, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986). When the “record taken as a whole could not lead a rational trier of fact to find for the nonmoving party,” there is no genuine issue of material fact. Matsushita Elec. Indus. Co. v. Zenith Radio Corp., 475 U.S. 574, 587, 106 S.Ct. 1348, 89 L.Ed.2d 538 (1986). The attorney general contends that both sets of plaintiffs lack standing to sue, and, failing that, they have failed to state a claim upon which relief can be granted. The Cantrell plaintiffs, seeking summary judgment, argue that Proposal 2 is unconstitutional as a matter of law: first, because it singles out race while leaving various other elements of diversity untouched, thereby creating a classification that triggers Fourteenth Amendment scrutiny; and second, because Proposal 2 makes achieving race-conscious admissions policies more difficult than securing other types of beneficial legislation, thereby imposing an unequal and impermissible burden on people of color. A. Standing The attorney general divides his attack on the Coalition plaintiffs’ standing to challenge Proposal 2 on equal protection and preemption grounds by categorizing these plaintiffs into two groups: organizational plaintiffs and individual plaintiffs. He contends that the organizational plaintiffs cannot satisfy the requirements that the organization’s members would have standing to sue in their own right, the interests at stake are central to the organization’s purpose, and neither the claim asserted nor the relief requested dictates the participation of individual members. He says that the individual plaintiffs cannot show actual or imminent harm because the individual Coalition plaintiffs do not have a legally protected right to attend college or receive preferential treatment in the admissions process. And even if this were not the case, the attorney general contends, none of the plaintiffs have shown that they would be admitted in the absence of Proposal 2. With respect to the petition circulator, it is unclear what legal interest he has in the matter at all. The attorney general also divides the Cantrell plaintiffs into two groups, faculty and students, and divides the latter into the subgroups of students currently attending the University of Michigan, high school students who have applied to the University of Michigan, and high school students who intend to apply there. He then posits that all of these students have failed to establish a legally cognizable injury in fact. This point overlaps the merits argument, since the attorney general reasons that the plaintiffs lack standing to pursue their political-restructuring claim because they are not and cannot be injured by an amendment that prohibits discriminatory treatment. He says that the faculty plaintiffs, while grounding their claim on a right to academic freedom under the First Amendment (since they are third-party beneficiaries of the universities’ affirmative action programs), have failed to satisfy the requirements for third-party standing. Standing, of course, is “the threshold question in every federal case.” Warth v. Seldin, 422 U.S. 490, 498, 95 S.Ct. 2197, 45 L.Ed.2d 343 (1975). There are “three constitutional requirements for standing, see McConnell v. Fed. Election Comm’n, 540 U.S. 93, 225-26, 124 S.Ct. 619, 157 L.Ed.2d 491 (2003) (reiterating that ‘the irreducible constitutional minimum of standing’ consists of ‘an injury in fact, which is concrete, distinct and palpable, and actual or imminent,’ ‘a causal connection between the injury and the conduct complained of — the injury has to be fairly traceable to the challenged action of the defendant, and not the result of some third party not before the court,’ and a ‘substantial likelihood that the requested relief will remedy the alleged injury in fact’) (internal quotes and citations omitted), as well as [three] prudential requirements, see Coyne v. American Tobacco Co., 183 F.3d 488, 494 (6th Cir.1999) (reviewing the three elements that ‘a plaintiff must assert his own legal rights and interests,’ the claim ‘must be more than a generalized grievance,’ and ‘in statutory cases, the plaintiffs claim must fall within the “zone of interests” regulated by the statute in question’) (internal quotes and citations omitted).” City of Cleveland v. Ohio, 508 F.3d 827, 835 (6th Cir.2007). In addition, “[a]n association has standing to bring suit on behalf of its members when its members would otherwise have standing to sue in their own right, the interests at stake are germane to the organization’s purpose, and neither the claim asserted nor the relief requested requires the participation of individual members in the lawsuit.” Friends of the Earth, Inc. v. Laidlaw Environmental Services (TOC), Inc., 528 U.S. 167, 181, 120 S.Ct. 693, 145 L.Ed.2d 610 (2000) (citing Hunt v. Washington State Apple Advertising Comm’n, 432 U.S. 333, 343, 97 S.Ct. 2434, 53 L.Ed.2d 383 (1977)). Applying these well-established rules, it is easy to conclude that all of the parties have standing to bring their respective claims (save the First Amendment claim) except the petition circulator and the labor unions. The Coalition and Cantrell plaintiffs both contend that they have suffered harm in that they have been hindered unconstitutionally in advancing their legal objectives through the political process. The Coalition plaintiffs also allege that Proposal 2 directly discriminates against them by making it more difficult for minorities and females