The U.S. Supreme Court will hear a challenge Tuesday to Michigan’s ban on affirmative action in public university admissions.
The Michigan Public Radio Network’s Rick Pluta reports.
Ten years ago, the Supreme Court upheld the use of affirmative action to ensure a diverse campus. Michigan voters then put an affirmative action ban into the state constitution.
Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette is defending the amendment.
“The best way to stop racial discrimination is to stop discriminating on the basis of race,” he says.
University of Michigan psychology professor Rosario Cabello is one of the plaintiffs trying to reverse the amendment. She says while most people can ask the state to change a policy they consider unfair; racial minorities cannot without first changing the state constitution.
“I would very much like the Supreme Court to say that it is constitutional to have race-conscious admissions,” she says.