In a brief that the Supreme Court was expected to receive by today, the attorneys general of the 10 states do not endorse or condemn affirmative action in higher education, but say that the states need clarity on the issue. The brief argues that the justices should take up the case because "the states and their selective educational institutions need guidance that only this court can give."

States need to know whether their public colleges' admissions processes comply with the Constitution, and also "have an interest in knowing whether and to what degree they may consider the race of applicants in attempting to create a diverse student body," the brief argues. The brief urges the

court to "produce a clear standard that can be applied uniformly throughout the country."

William H. Pryor Jr., the attorney general of Alabama, took the lead in filing the brief. The other signatories were the attorneys general of Delaware, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Virginia, and West Virginia, as well as the attorney general of the U.S. Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.

The initial petition asking the Supreme Court to consider the case was filed by the lawyers for a white woman who sued the university after being rejected by its law school in 1997. They are seeking to have the Supreme Court overturn a May 14 ruling, by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, that upheld the law school's admissions procedures as constitutional. (See an article from The Chronicle, May 24.)

The lawyers for several students who have intervened in the case also have asked the Supreme Court to take up the case. Although they agree with the Sixth Circuit's decision to leave Michigan's policy intact, they argue that the appeals court ignored evidence of racial discrimination by the university that would justify its use of affirmative action for remedial purposes.