University of Michigan President Lee C. Bollinger said in a news release that the lawsuit's outcome is pivotal because it permits the university to continue pursuing diversity actively.

"I am deeply gratified by the court's decision to recognize and affirm the critical nature of diversity in higher education," Bollinger said.

But Rudenstine said the ruling does not have much of an impact on Harvard because it simply reinforces the status quo.

"It just sustains the current Supreme Court view in the Bakke case that considering race in admissions is fine as long as its goal is a carefully tailored, diverse group of students," Rudenstine said.

In that 1978 case--Regents of the University of California v. Bakke--the U.S. Supreme Court allowed universities to consider race in admissions, but deemed racial quotas to be unconstitutional.

Even though several university officials said they unequivocally support Duggan's opinion, the legal battle is not likely to end soon.

The backdrop to the case suggests that it may be appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court. In a landmark case in 1996, an appellate court ruled against affirmative action at the University of Texas Law School, and many people find affirmative action unacceptable.