The United States Supreme Court's decision to review Grutter v.
Bollinger could have long-term consequences in how our society
approaches issues of race, affirmative action, quotas and
diversity as we enter this new millennium. The case began when
Barbara Grutter, a 43-year-old white woman, sued the University
of Michigan law school for racial discrimination when it denied
her admission while accepting many other applicants with
objectively inferior academic credentials. The school admitted
that it considered the applicant's race as one of many factors
in its admissions decisions but denied that it used quotas. It
sought to justify its consideration of race to promote
diversity, which it contended created a better educational
environment. The United States District Court didn't buy the
school's arguments. While the Court didn't find that the school
was using quotas per se, it did reject the school's attempt to
downplay race as a factor in its admission decisions. The Court
found "the evidence indisputably dem