WASHINGTON, June 23 (UPI) -- Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor defended her support of race-based affirmative action, saying she believes it works to improve diversity in higher education, where using geographic or economic status don't.
Sotomayor, who wrote the dissent in an April ruling that allowed Michigan to ban affirmative action, said race-based affirmative action programs helped people like her and President Obama rise above difficult childhoods to the very top of their fields.