[XJarhead]

Preferences are constitutional. Quotas are not.

The undergrad policy was not a "quota". It was simply the awarding of 20 extra points on a 150 pt. scale. It really is the difference between objective and subjective preferences. That's the effect, anyway. So the trick will be for universities to abandon formal quota systems, and just consider racial preferences on an ad hoc basis. The result might be equally or even more "preferential", but much more difficult to track.

[goldstategop]

An arbitrary point system is a quota even if its not labeled as such because a certain group of people are automatically eligible regardless of any other factor. They just get in because they fill it. With preferences on the other hand, its more subjective and presumably every one's chances remain more or less equal. At least that's how the SCOTUS presumably saw it.