Court Takes Up Racial Preferences in Landmark Case ; Debate Tuesday on Affirmative Action in College Admissions Will Have Big Impact

Beginning of article

When she applied to attend the University of Michigan Law School, Barbara Grutter was anything but a typical applicant.

As a mother of two in her 40s running her own healthcare consulting business, she had considerably more life experience than the average 22-year-old. In addition, there was a respectable 3.8 undergraduate grade-point average and a score of 161 on the law- school aptitude test, placing her in the 86th percentile nationally.

But unknown to Ms. Grutter, she possessed one trait that would significantly undercut her candidacy: the color of her skin.

As one of the most selective law schools in the nation, the University of Michigan maintains an …