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Ap1 , 2003
@2003 The Michigan Daily
Ann Arbor, Michigan
Vol. CXIII, No. 123
One-hundred-twelve years of editoralfreedom
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Supreme Court justices fire
tough questions at lawyers
By Jeremy Berkowitz
and Tomislav Ladika
Daily Staff Reporters
WASHINGTON - The most
important affirmative action case in a
generation went before the Supreme
Court yesterday, giving lawyers on
both sides their last.chance to sway
undecided justices.
Thousands of vocal supporters sur-
rounded the court's perimeter, hold-
ing signs, beating drums and voicing
their concern for preserving integra-
tion in education.
The hundreds of spectators who
crowded into the historic courtroom,
which is no bigger than a medium-
sized lecture hall, were insulated from
the protests. They watched the nine
Supreme Court justices fire a barrage
of questions at attorneys representing
the University and the rejected appli-
cants who sued it.
Instead of providing each side with
the opportunity to reiterate its basic
legal arguments, the justices instead
targeted specific details of the cases.
They asked fast-paced questions chal-
lenging the importance of diversity in
society and education, the University's
goal of enrolling a critical mass of
minorities through race-conscious
admissions policies and the validity of
race-blind alternative programs.
Attorneys from the Center for Indi-
vidual Rights - the law firm repre-
senting the plaintiffs - argued that
minorities meeting certain minimal
qualifications are automatically
accepted into the College of Literature,
Science and the Arts.
"These systems featured separate
admissions guidelines for different
races, protected or reserved seats in the
class for select minorities," CIR lead
attorney Kirk Kolbo said.
See HEARINGS, Page 9
Hoping to sway court, students
convene in D.C. by the busload
N University students
join thousands of other
demonstrators in capital
By Andrew Kaplan
and Emily Kraack
Daily Staff Reporters
WASHINGTON -- There is a junc-
ture oh Interstate 495 where roads from
New York, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and
Virginia converge, funneling motorists
into the heart of Washington. By the
time dawn broke over the Maryland
foothills yesterday morning, this high-
way was alive with caravans of buses
leading student activists from Michigan,
Illinois, Ohio and New York to rally in
front of the Supreme Court..
While the Supreme Court justices
picked apart the University's admissions
system, University students joined with
several thousand activists in support of
the race-conscious policies. Many pro-
testers said they thought their actions
will convince the justices to rule in favor
of the policies this summer.
"They'll be watching this, their chil-
dren will watch this," said Education
senior Agnes Aleobua, a member of the
Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action
and Integration and Fight for Equality
By Any Means Necessary. "They're
human. They'll be affected by it."
Law School student Tracy Thomas
rode to Washington on one of six buses
carrying University members of Stu-
dents Supporting Affirmative Action.
She said the demonstrations build public
support for diversity.
"Just the march and people showing
how they feel about affirmative action
- it has an impact on public opinion,
See RALLIES, Page 7
Kennedy calls
LSA policy a
quota system
By Tomislav Ladika
Daily Staff Reporter
Students demonstrate in front of the Supreme Court, where justices heard arguments yesterday in the lawsuits challenging
the University's race-conscious admissions policies.
Justices question application
o e in Lw oo case
By Jeremy Berkowitz
Daily Staff Reporter
WASHINGTON - The differ-
ence between a critical mass and a
quota was one of many issues on
which justices grilled lawyers dur-
ing the Grutter v. Bollinger argu-
ments yesterday before the Supreme
Court.
Filed in December 1997 by the
Center for Individual Rights, the
lawsuit attacks the Law School's
policies, which call for the race of its
applicants to be taken into account.
CIR attorney Kirk Kolbo split the
plaintiffs' allotted 30 minutes of
0 See inside for more covers
beginning of the end of the adn
Awaiting a
.speaking time with U.S. Solicitor
General Theodore Olsen, who spoke
on behalf of President Bush. Mau-
reen Mahoney argued on behalf of
the University..
Both sides addressed the 1978
Regents of the University of Califor-
nia v. Bakke decision - in which
Justice Lewis Powell said race could
be used as one of many factors in
college admissions - regarding the
issues of precedent and quotas. Jus-
tices asked CIR lawyers their stance
on the merits of the Bakke decision.
"Do you agree with the articulated
proposal of Justice Powell in the
Bakke case of using race as a plus
gesof I U.S
factor as he saw the use of it? Do
you disagree with that approach?"
Justice Sandra Day O'Connor asked.
She was a protege of Powell's during
her early years on the court and has
since modeled her ability to look at
lawsuits on a case-by-case basis
after Powell.;
Using "every test that Justice Pow-
ell applied in that opinion, the Law
School program here fails. It's a
stereotype," Olsen replied, adding
that diversity has multiple meanings.
"It means both a means to get experi-
ence and a diversity of experience. It
also means, I think what the Law
See LAW SCHOOL, Page 9
WASHINGTON - Unlike most other Supreme Court
justices, who focused on questioning the details of each
side's legal standpoint during yesterday's oral argu-
ments, Justice Anthony Kennedy actually voiced his
views on the University's use of race in the LSA admis-
sions policy.
Kennedy is considered by many legal experts to be a
moderate vote, but his statements suggest that Kennedy
may vote to overturn one or both of the University's
policies, while upholding the use of race as an admis
sions factor in general.
"I have to say that in looking at your program, it
looks to me like this is just a disguised quota,"
Kennedy said after University lawyer John Payton fin-
ished clarifying the University's definition of a critical
mass in its admissions policies.
The University defines a critical mass as having
enough minorities so that a few individuals are not con-
sidered representatives for their race.
But Kennedy later asked a hypothetical question
which indicates that he may still uphold the 1978
Regents of the University of California v. Bakke ruling,
which banned racial quotas but permitted the use of
race as one of many admissions factors.
"Suppose the court were to say that the 20-point sys-
tem and the Law School system looked just too much
See LSA CASE, Page 9
forces encircle Baghdad
s lng
71 i
Page 5
Colleges across
the nation contem-
plate alternatives
to race-conscious '
admissions.
I ~
Demonstrators
line the National
Mall in Washington.
0 Members of Con-
gress encourage
protesters to keep
fighting.
Coalition raid rescues
American POW from Iraqi
captivity
The Associated Press
In a breakthrough in the push
toward Baghdad, army ground forces
battled past Republican Guard units
near the strategic city of Karbala and
thousands of coalition troops crossed
a bridge over the Tigris River. An
American POW was rescued in Iraq.
As Secretary of Defense Donald
Rumsfeld declared that the "circle is
closing around Baghdad," American
soldiers engaged Saddam Hussein's
toughest troops for the first time out-
side Karbala, 50 miles south of the
capital.
By this morning, U.S. forces had
And in a daring raid that triggered
jubilation in one West Virginian
town, Pfc. Jessica Lynch, a 19-year-
old supply clerk, was freed after nine
days in Iraqi hands. Military officials
said she was rescued from an Iraqi
hospital but gave no details of the
operation or her condition.
In Lynch's hometown of Pales-
tine, W. Va., fire trucks blared horns
in celebration and well-wishers
crowded into the family home.
"You would not believe the joys,
cries, bawling, hugging, screaming,
carrying on," said Pam Nicolais, a
cousin. "You just have to be here."
The developments unfolded as
huge explosions rocked Baghdad,
Saddam Hussein's ,at of power
and site of repeated bombing in the
two weeks of the war. Plumes of
white smoke rose from the southern
since the war began.
The attack on forces near Karbala
marked the first major ground bat-
tle against Saddam's Republican
Guard, and capped a day of aggres-
sive American and British military
actions.
Marines staged a nighttime raid
on Nasiriyah, a column of amphibi-
ous assault vehicles rolling into
town under a moonless sky - and
finding Iraqis had abandoned a
huge, walled police compound.
In Basra, a city of 1.3 million,
warplanes dropped 500-pound and
1,000-pound laser-guided bombs on
an Iraqi intelligence complex in an
effort to dislodge die-hard defend-
ers who have kept British forces at
bay for days.
"What you're seeing today on the
battlefield in Iraq is a continuation of