The Supreme Court imposed a stricter test for affirmative action in college admissions on Monday, ruling that schools must prove "no workable race-neutral alternatives would produce the educational benefits of diversity." The 7-1 decision (Justice Elena Kagan recused herself) was not a sweeping one on the future of affirmative action, but it did amount to a warning to colleges that courts are raising the bar for race-conscious admissions policies, NBC News reported. With the ruling, the court sent the case before it — which Abigail Fisher, a white woman denied admission to the University of Texas, had filed over the school's admissions policy — back to a federal appeals court for review, giving the high court's equivalent of a grade of "Incomplete." The school considers race as one of many factors in the admission of one-quarter of its students.
