January 12, 2007

Court Tells Michigan Universities to Comply Immediately With Preference Ban

By AUDREY WILLIAMS JUNE and PETER SCHMIDT

A federal court has told Michigan's three largest universities to comply immediately with a state ban on affirmative-action preferences in a ruling that signaled skepticism toward a pending lawsuit seeking to have the measure overturned.

In a 13-page opinion issued late last month, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit said any delay of the ban should be granted by a state court, not a federal one. "We are unable to identify any tenable basis under