Supreme Court to wade into affirmative action -- again

Richard Wolf, USA TODAY | USATODAY

WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court agreed Monday to hear another challenge to the use of racial preferences in hiring and college admissions, even while still deciding the fate of a University of Texas affirmative action program.

The latest case involves Michigan's 2006 voter referendum barring the use of racial preferences at state universities and in government hiring. The constitutional amendment was on the books for six years when a federal appeals court narrowly tossed it out as discriminatory.

State Attorney General Bill Schuette argued that the constitutional amendment was an effort to end discrimination in hiring and university admissions by taking racial preferences out of the decision-making process.

By agreeing to take the case, which likely will be argued in the fall, the Supreme Court signaled that its upcoming decision involving the University of Texas won't end the debate over affirmative action programs nationwide.

It's possible that a majority of justices disagreed with the appeals court decision and looked kindly on the state's challenge. If they had denied a hearing, the appeals court decision would stand and the Michigan law would be overturned.

Michigan voters were motivated to pass the amendment by a 58%-42% margin following the high court's last major decision on racial preferences in 2003. Then, Justice Sandra Day O'Connor ruled for the majority that the University of Michigan law school could use preferences as one factor in admissions. At the same time, the court struck down the school's undergraduate policy of racial preferences, which was based on quotas.