The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday upheld the affirmative action program at the University of Texas at Austin, ending a prolonged legal battle A Texas law guarantees admission to the university for students in about the top ten percent of the graduating class of any Texas high school Remaining spots are filled with applicants who are considered for other factors, including race The school said students learn better with diversity on campus but a woman who was denied admission filed a lawsuit claiming the standard was too vague to justify making distinctions based on race Many of the nation's highly selective universities, from Yale in the East to Stanford in the West, urged the court to uphold affirmative action