New York

Jennifer Gratz's legal battle had dragged on for 5½ years when it ended in 2003 with a 6-3 U.S. Supreme Court ruling in her favor. She tells me she felt as if she'd "been kicked in the gut."

If that seems an unusual reaction to a victory, it's because the circumstances made it Pyrrhic. Ms. Gratz, then 25, had sued to challenge...