The Supreme Court Saying Yes to Affirmative Action, Sometimes
When the Supreme Court ruled in 2003 on affirmative action, it
actually ruled on two cases. One involved the University of
Michigan's law school affirmative action policy, which it upheld
by a vote of 5 to 4—Grutter v. Bollinger. The other involved the
University of Michigan's undergraduate affirmative action
policy, which was struck down by a vote of 6 to 3—Gratz v.
Bollinger. The “nation's future depends upon leaders trained
through wide exposure' to the ideas and mores of students as
diverse as this Nation … [i]t is not an interest in simple
ethnic diversity, in which a specified percentage of the student
body is in effect guaranteed to be members of selected ethnic
groups,” that can justify using race. Rather, “[t]he diversity
that furthers a compelling state interest encompasses a far
broader array of qualifications and characteristics of which
racial or ethnic origin is but a single though important
element.” —Former Supreme Court Justice Lew