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White House files brief opposing 'flawed' affirmative actionMove draws fire from Democrats, civil rights leaders
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The Bush administration late Thursday filed a brief with the U.S. Supreme Court outlining its opposition to the University of Michigan's affirmative action program. President Bush had announced his opposition to the program Wednesday, calling it "fundamentally flawed." "I strongly support diversity of all kinds, including racial diversity in higher education," Bush said Wednesday at the White House. "But the method used by the University of Michigan to achieve this important goal is fundamentally flawed." The administration filed a friend-of-the-court brief -- a common practice for the White House in high-profile cases -- but is not a plaintiff in the matter. Bush's action immerses the administration in a politically and socially charged subject at a time when Republicans are trying to recover from a racially tinged firestorm in the Senate and reach out to minority voters. The move by the administration was closely watched on Capitol Hill by Democrats who say Republicans have failed to encourage racial diversity. Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle, D-South Dakota, called it "a watershed moment" for Republicans. Former House Minority Leader Richard Gephardt -- who has announced his intention to run for the White House in 2004 -- said he would file a court brief in support of the university's affirmative action program. Gephardt, D-Missouri, graduated from the University of Michigan Law School. Jesse Jackson, founder and president of the Rainbow/PUSH coalition, called Bush's speech "a painful thing to be said by America's president." 'Impossible to square with the Constitution'In the University of Michigan case, white students opposed to the program filed suits against the school. One lawsuit challenged the affirmative action program at the College of Literature, Science and the Arts, and another lawsuit challenged admissions policies using race at the law school. The undergraduate admission process involves a point system where African-American, Hispanic and Native American applicants earn 20 points on the basis of race out of a 150-point system. Bush called the system "a quota system" that rejects or accepts students "based solely on race." "Quota systems that use race to include or exclude people from higher education and the opportunities it offers are divisive, unfair and impossible to square with the Constitution," Bush said. The Supreme Court's decision will be key in defining the role of affirmative action in America. Conservatives have been arguing that it is important for the administration to take a stand against racial preferences. But it is a politically sensitive issue for the president and Republicans who have been trying to reach out to minorities, especially in the wake of Sen. Trent Lott's comments praising Sen. Strom Thurmond's segregationist 1948 presidential bid. Many civil rights activists also have been angered by the president's judicial nominees, most recently Charles Pickering, a Mississippi judge renominated to a federal appeals court. They've described Pickering as racially insensitive and questioned his commitment to civil rights. Republicans have countered by saying Pickering is being demonized for political purposes. Daschle suggested the administration's actions in the Michigan case did not match its stated support for diversity. "I think the burden of proof will be on the administration, I think the burden of proof will be on Republicans to show us how they can be for diversity and yet be against the laws that promulgate diversity," Daschle said. "That, I think, is a hard case to make, but I look forward to their response." At a White House briefing, White House spokesman Ari Fleischer highlighted a program Bush spearheaded as governor of Texas. Bush opposed racial preferences at state universities, opting instead for a program he calls "affirmative access," under which the top 10 percent of all high school students are eligible for admission. White House correspondents John King and Dana Bash, and Justice Correspondent Kelli Arena contributed to this report.
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