![Listen Live: Supreme Court hears cases challenging affirmative action](https://assets3.cbsnewsstatic.com/hub/i/r/2022/10/27/1698d1af-3956-49ec-90fa-e8f167b9c64d/thumbnail/1200x630/bf2ef046eb9de9723dd4ab2f0cded55f/gettyimages-153866234.jpg)
Listen Live: Supreme Court hears cases challenging affirmative action
CBSN
Washington — As the Supreme Court convenes Monday to hear arguments in a pair of cases involving Harvard University and the University of North Carolina, four of the nine justices are confronting an issue they weighed just six years ago.
But in the years since the high court last considered the legality of universities considering race as a factor in their admissions programs — in a dispute involving the University of Texas at Austin (Justice Elena Kagan recused herself) — the composition of the court has changed markedly, with the addition of three justices appointed by former President Donald Trump.
That rightward march has raised the stakes significantly for the future of affirmative action, with legal experts expecting the Supreme Court's strengthened six-member conservative majority to find race-conscious admissions policies to be outside constitutional bounds.
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Vice President JD Vance and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy held a high-stakes meeting at this year's Munich Security conference to discuss the Trump administration's efforts to end the war in Ukraine. Vance said the U.S. seeks a "durable" peace, while Zelenskyy expressed the desire for extensive discussions to prepare for any end to the conflict.
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Washington — The Trump administration on Thursday intensified its sweeping efforts to shrink the size of the federal workforce, the nation's largest employer, by ordering agencies to lay off nearly all probationary employees who hadn't yet gained civil service protection - potentially affecting hundreds of thousands of workers.
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It was Labor Day weekend 2003 when Matt Scribner, a local horse farrier and trainer who also competes in long-distance horse races, was on his usual ride in a remote part of the Sierra Nevada foothills — just a few miles northeast of Auburn, California —when he noticed a freshly dug hole along the trail that piqued his curiosity.