Iowa A-G signs onto brief in support of Michigan affirmative action policy

Iowa’s Attorney General has joined 21 other states in voicing support for the University of Michigan’s affirmative action policy that’s being challenged in the U.S. Supreme Court. The University of Michigan policy has come under fire because it uses a point-based admission system that awards students from minority groups 20 points just for being a minority. Iowa Deputy Attorney General Tam Ormiston says the state has signed on to a “Friend of the Court” brief drafted primarily by the New York and Maryland Attorneys General in support of the policy. President George Bush, a republican, has spoken out against the policy. Ormiston says even though Attorney General Tom Miller is a democrat, politics has nothing to do with his stance. He says it’s not a political issue as over 300 organizations have lent their support to the policy. Some call the Michigan policy a quota, but Ormiston says it’s not.He says it’s just one criteria used to admit students and it doesn’t dictate that the school has to admit a certain number of people from one particular group. The Supreme Court will hear arguments on the issue April 1st.