Students and faculty at the University of Michigan challenged a ban on racial preferences in public university admissions and government hiring in Michigan in federal court last Tuesday. The plaintiffs predict the case will eventually continue to the U.S. Supreme Court.

The ban was passed by Michigan voters in 2006 as Proposition 2, which made it illegal to consider race in admissions at the University of Michigan. Proponents of racial preferences have fought the ban through campaigning, protest and now a constitutional challenge.

“A lot of people think inequalities are gone just because it’s 2009, but there’s a lot of history…a lot of discrimination that we still kind of have to make up for,” said Katherine Lixey, an interdisciplinary studies in social science and international studies senior at Michigan State University.
 
A three-judge panel heard oral arguments Tuesday.  Once they issue a ruling, it may be appealed to the full 6th Circuit Court in Cincinnati or to the U.S. Supreme Court. The ban was already challenged once, but the request to rule was turned down by the U.S. District Court last year.


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