And I've supported race-based preferences in the past.

But he said that if the end of race-based preferences meant fewer blacks and Hispanics, so be it.

Though courts have struck down speech codes and race-based preferences in hiring and admissions, campus life has been transformed.

State colleges in Texas and Florida have also ended race-based preferences.

Justice Stevens said that the majority today had overlooked the difference between invidious discrimination and efforts to "foster equality in society" through race-based preferences.

It should come as no surprise that race-based preferences have a less detrimental effect at elite schools, since only the most motivated and prepared need apply.

Mr. Clinton withdrew her nomination after opposition grew because of her controversial writings on race-based preferences.

Remedial race-based preferences reflect the opposite impulse: a desire to foster equality in society.

Clearly, many fair-minded Americans are uncomfortable with race-based preferences.

But some do have race-based preferences themselves.