Supreme Court Will Hear Michigan Affirmative Action Case

Proposal 2 bans race from being a factor in university admissions

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court agreed to weigh in on college affirmative action for a second time in a year and decide whether Michigan's voters can forbid "preferential treatment" based on race in their state universities.

The justices are closely split on whether school officials may ever use race as a factor for deciding who is admitted. A decade ago, the high court, by a 5-4 vote, upheld a limited use of race as a means to achieve classroom diversity in a case from the University of Michigan Law School. But that victory for liberal advocates of affirmative action was soon overturned by Michigan's voters.