Penn Law students support U. Mich.

Law students across the country -- including 259 from Penn -- have joined the flurry of activity surrounding the controversial Supreme Court cases involving the University of Michigan's race-based admission policy. On Tuesday, 13,922 law students jointly signed an amicus curiae, or "friend of the court" brief, urging the Supreme Court to rule in favor of Michigan Law School in Grutter v. Bollinger, according to Georgetown University Law Center Professor Peter Rubin, who helped oversee the writing of the brief. The case, set to be heard in April, is one of two filed against the university. The plaintiff claims that the use of race as a factor in the admissions process is unconstitutional. The signatures for the brief were gathered from students at 143 American Bar Association-accredited law schools across the country, Rubin said. The law students' brief argues that a diverse student body is one of the essential elements of a quality education. Third-year Penn Law student David Love said that he sees "this as one of the most important civil rights issues in the country." "Clearly affirmative action is under attack," Love added. Third-year Georgetown Law student David Fauvre, who helped write the brief and organize the signature gathering, said he was amazed at how many students participated. "We never thought we could get 14,000 names," he said. "We thought that 4,000 or 5,000 would be a lot. But so many people believe that this is important to their education." The law students join hundreds of others who also filed amicus briefs by the court's Wednesday deadline, according to