On Thursday, the Supreme Court surprised a lot of observers when it upheld, 4-3, the race-based affirmative action plan employed by the University of Texas in its undergraduate admissions. Just three years ago, the court had avoided ruling definitively in the same case, Fisher vs. University of Texas, sending it back to the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals for reconsideration using reasoning and language that seemed skeptical of the Texas plan. So when the court agreed to hear the case anew last year many analysts thought a majority of justices would be inhospitable to any admissions plan that overtly took into account the race of individual applicants.

June 26, 2016 ・ From Los Angeles Times