http://news.cincinnati.com/article/2...+on+trial+here

CINCINNATI - Opponents of a Michigan law that bans affirmative action in government hiring and university admissions told a federal appeals court Tuesday that the law strips minorities of their constitutional rights.

The challenge to the law, which is before the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati, could lead to a Supreme Court battle over similar laws in several other states where voters have approved bans on racial and gender preferences.

Supporters of the Michigan law, also known as Proposal 2, say it protects everyone by eliminating race and gender from consideration.

"We are dealing with equal treatment," said Margaret Nelson, an assistant attorney general in Michigan. "We are dealing with a proposal that takes race, sex and national origin out of the equation."

But attorneys for students and others who sued to overturn the law say the measure bars minorities from even suggesting racial diversity is a factor worth considering in public institutions and college admissions.

Such a ban is significant, they say, because the Supreme Court has ruled that considering such factors is permitted as long as there is no quota system and as long as it is done as part of a "holistic approach" that also takes other factors into account.
"This was overwhelmingly a racially targeted law," said George Washington, a lawyer for the students challenging the law. "Its total effect is on black people and minorities. Minority students don't have the same right to go to admissions to adjust their criteria."

Judge Martha Craig Daughtrey, one of three judges on the 6th Circuit who heard arguments Tuesday, questioned whether it's fair to bar universities from considering race when they may still give preferential treatment to other groups, such as "legacy" students whose relatives attended the same school.

Daughtrey also voiced concern about drops in minority enrollment in other states that have adopted similar policies, such as California. She said a recent law school class of 294 students in that state included only one African-American.

"That certainly doesn't benefit the entire class," she said. "Haven't you disadvantaged the university? Haven't you disadvantaged the students?"