By Chris Hoenig
In a decision that indicates a compromise among the justices, the Supreme Court has elected not to rule on a challenge to affirmative action argued before it late last year. The 7-to-1 ruling from the court provides a small victory for opponents of affirmative action, vacating a decision by the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals that was in favor of the narrow use of racial preferences and sending the case back to the lower court with orders to give it more intense scrutiny.
The case was brought by Abigail Fisher, a white student who claims she was discriminated against by the University of Texas at Austin because of her ethnicity, after the school rejected her application for admission in 2008.
