Affirmative Action

Thomas sided with the majority but argues that state-sanctioned racial discrimination is "automatically fatal." In his view, the court should have taken broader action to prohibit the use of race in college admissions.

In a 7-1 decision, the justices ruled a lower court had not applied the right standards when it upheld a University of Texas program. It said that court needs to put the Texas program through "strict scrutiny," and had not done that.