The Michigan Affirmative Action case and the Supreme Courts rulings have people riled up. Here's a poll showing that people mostly agree with W's stance:

The distinction is in line with the one drawn by President Bush, whose administration earlier this month filed legal briefs opposing affirmative action programs at the University of Michigan, saying they rely on unconstitutional racial quotas.
While the majority in this poll share Bush's view, that's not so among one important subgroup — black Americans, a majority of whom support preference-based programs, and whose support for those programs has grown in the last two years.

The whole idea of quota's is plain wrong. By giving people preference solely based on skin color is against the spirit of the 14th amendent:

Section 1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside. No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

As someone who is not a lawyer but a citizen, it seems clear to me, by offering preferences to Hispanics and Blacks, but not Asians, Whites is constitutionallt illegal. By throwing out the point system the Supreme Court split the difference without really moving things too much in any direction.