Marsh

We must decide whether a motion to intervene as of right in a pending federal affirmative action lawsuit was properly denied as untimely.

I

The case underlying the motion to intervene challenges the use of affirmative action in admissions at the University of Washington Law School. Katuria Smith, Angela Rock, and Michael Pyle (“Applicants”) are unsuccessful white applicants who sued the Law School, former dean Wallace D. Loh, and certain other current and former Law School officials (collectively, “the Law School”), seeking to challenge its admission policies. Tyson Marsh and twelve others (“Students”) are prospective and current law students at the University of Washington, including minority students, who claim that their educational opportunities would be diminished if affirmative action were abolished. Students sought to intervene as of right under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 24(a)(2) as defendants in the underlying affirmative action case. They claim that minority student admissions and enrollment would decline sharply if affirmative action were abolished, injuring them in two ways: (1) by decreasing educational diversity, and (2) by reducing minority applicants’…