The San Fransisco Chronicle wrote:
The U.S. Supreme Court cast doubt Tuesday on the future of affirmative action at the nation's colleges and universities, agreeing to hear an appeal from a white student in Texas who seeks an end to "racial preferences" in college admissions.
The court has been closely split on affirmative action since 1978 when, by a 5-4 vote in the Regents of the University of California v. Bakke decision, the justices said universities may consider a minority student's race as a plus factor in admissions to bring about more diversity in the class. In 2003, the court reaffirmed that view in a 5-4 opinion written by then-Justice Sandra Day O'Connor in Grutter v. Bollinger.
The court has been closely split on affirmative action since 1978 when, by a 5-4 vote in the Regents of the University of California v. Bakke decision, the justices said universities may consider a minority student's race as a plus factor in admissions to bring about more diversity in the class. In 2003, the court reaffirmed that view in a 5-4 opinion written by then-Justice Sandra Day O'Connor in Grutter v. Bollinger.
Based on the circumstances of this particular case, it doesn't look like a narrow opinion will actually address the key finding in the 2003 case, which was that a diverse student body provides some unquantifiable amount of educational benefit to all university students, which therefore justifies racial discrimination in the acceptance process. Then again, the article seems to claim that the "Top Ten" policy at UT appears to be accomplishing the goal of affirmative action without the explicit racial bias (although not well enough for some folks).
The talking heads are expecting this one to get ruled in favor of the plaintiff, contrary to almost all previous decisions in this vein, mostly due to the fact that O'Connor has been replaced by Alito and Kennedy dissented from the 2003 ruling.
Personally, I'm totally fine with that. But, being a conservative-minded white male, that probably doesn't surprise you.
Now for 15 pages of Almalique arguing that affirmative action actually hurts minorities!
In before "disparate outcomes".