WALL STREET JOURNAL: Capping a year of suspense with a surprise anticlimax, the Supreme Court Monday sidestepped a sweeping ruling on affirmative action and instead directed lower courts to re-examine whether a race-conscious admissions program at the University of Texas at Austin should survive constitutional scrutiny.
Justice Anthony Kennedy’s opinion reflected a broad consensus across the court’s ideological spectrum, from Justice Clarence Thomas to Justice Sonia Sotomayor—both of whom say affirmative action brought them to Yale Law School, but today take opposite positions on whether universities should grant preferences to underrepresented minorities.
Both sides took solace in the 7-1 ruling. Justice Elena Kagan, who as solicitor general participated in the Obama administration’s defense of affirmative action, sat out. In dissent, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg wrote that the UT plan passed muster and shouldn’t be returned to the lower courts for additional review… (more)
