The U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Grutter v. Bollinger ____.

The U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Grutter v. Bollinger was significant in shaping the landscape of affirmative action in higher education. By ruling in favor of the University of Michigan Law School's use of race as one of many factors in admissions, the Court effectively overturned the precedent set by the Hopwood case.

The Hopwood decision had restricted the consideration of race in university admissions in Texas and in the Fifth Circuit, thereby limiting affirmative action policies. Grutter established that institutions of higher education could consider race as a part of a holistic admissions process to promote diversity, thus providing a broader legal framework that allowed for the continued use of affirmative action practices beyond just Texas.

This ruling emphasized the educational benefits derived from a diverse student body, and it signified a shift in the judiciary's stance on affirmative action, reinforcing the notion that such policies could be constitutional under certain circumstances. Therefore, the ruling in Grutter v. Bollinger is correctly identified as having overturned the restrictive aspects of the Hopwood decision.