On 23 June 2003, the Supreme Court of the United States issued two rulings on the constitutionality of race preferences in university admissions. The cases in question both involved the University of Michigan and were designated Gratz v. Bollinger and Grutter v. Bollinger. The Michigan rulings were a stunning triumph for race preferences, from which those who put stock in the 14th Amendment's promise of racial equality can take little solace. Abigail Thernstrom laments that, as a consequence, our highest court has papered over lagging minority performance in higher education and thereby ignored the roots of the problem in American elementary and secondary schools.