In the end, the late Supreme Court Justice Lewis F. Powell Jr.'s sound reasoning remains hard to refute. A quarter-century after his landmark Bakke opinion on affirmative action, the high court that inherited his reasoning has affirmed the sensible standard he laid out in 1978. That standard allows universities that receive public money to consider applicants' race as a limited "plus" factor to further the legitimate goal of a racially diverse student body, but cautions them not to go too far.
In a 5-4 ruling in the case known as Grutter v. Bollinger, the court upheld the University of Michigan's Law School admissions process. That process allows consideration of an applicant's race as but one of many factors, including academic record, test scores, recommendations, family circumstances and a personal essay. Writing for the majority, Justice Sandra Day O'Connor found that "race-based action necessary to further a compelling governmental interest does not violate the equal protection clause so long as it is narrowly tailored to further that interest."

In a separate but related case, however, the court ruled 6-3 that in its use of race in the undergraduate admissions process, UM overstepped Bakke's bounds. Operating under a points-based system, UM automatically assigned 20 extra points (out of a 150-point possible total, with 100 as the threshold for admission) to any student who was African American, Latino or Native American.
Writing for the majority in Gratz v. Bollinger, Chief Justice William Rehnquist said that giving so much weight to race elevated it to more of a decisive factor than a "plus-factor," and violated the equal protection rights of students from other racial backgrounds.

The message to UM is clear: If it wants to continue considering race as it makes up each year's freshman class, the undergraduate admissions officers need to take a lesson from the law school, where race carried some influence but could not be the deciding factor in admission.

As a practical matter, a more nuanced, holistic and labor-intensive approach to judging aspiring freshmen won't be easy. UM receives nearly 14,000 applications for undergraduate admission, far more than for entry to law school. But it shouldn't be impossible; it's what the University of California, in the wake of the regents' and Proposition 209 bans on use of race in admissions decisions, is now trying to accomplish.

In affirming Bakke, the court has given needed direction to public universities across the country (private colleges, too, because by virtue of receiving federal money they are affected by the decision). And it has acknowledged something essential in a society that still struggles with discrimination and uneven opportunities.

The Grutter decision recognizes that the experience for both graduates and undergraduates will be enhanced by diversity -- not just of skin tones, but of life experience, values and goals, as well. And our professional class -- lawyers, doctors, teachers, government workers, political leaders and so on -- will be stronger if it includes Americans of varied strengths and backgrounds.