When the Gratz and Grutter opinions were released in 2003, many believed that eliminating race preferences was a lost cause, at least for a while. But the organizations of which we are a part—the American Civil Rights Institute (ACRI ) and the American Civil Rights Coalition (ACRC)—set out to abbreviate Justice O’Connor’s predicted twenty-five years. Just days after the Gratz and Grutter decisions, we announced our intentions to assist the people of Michigan place a civil rights initiative on the 2004 ballot....