AP/Fox News, 05/04/2012
Brazil’s top court has backed sweeping affirmative action programs used in more than 1,000 universities across the nation, which has more blacks than nearly any other country, yet where a severe gap in education equality between races persists.
The Supreme Court voted 7-1 vote late Thursday to uphold a federal program that has provided scholarships to hundreds of thousands of black and mixed-race students for university studies. Its constitutionality was challenged by the right-of-center DEM political party. Three justices abstained from the vote.
The court ruled last week in a separate case that it was constitutional for universities to use racial quotas in determining who is admitted.
