WASHINGTON POST: …The court will hear a white student’s claims that the University of Texas’s race-conscious admissions policy cost her a spot in the freshman class. A divided court only nine years ago said that universities were allowed to take race into account as one of many factors in considering applicants, when attempting to assemble a diverse student body.
The court since 1978 has been closely divided on the use of racial preferences, but it reaffirmed its support for limited use in the 2003 case, Grutter v. Bollinger . Justice Sandra Day O’Connor wrote for the five-member majority upholding a University of Michigan Law School policy, saying it was legitimate to use race as a factor in a holistic evaluation of an applicant to create a “critical mass” of minority students.
“We expect that 25 years from now, the use of racial preferences will no longer be necessary to further the interest approved today,” she wrote… (more)
