(CNN) -- The Supreme Court has just agreed to take on the case of Fisher v. University of Texas. Abigail Fisher, a white woman, argues that she has been a victim of the university's race-conscious admission policies; the university contends that its drive for racial and ethnic diversity is educationally enriching -- a benefit to all students. 

Will the ugly discourse that generally characterizes debate over racially preferential policies disappear with the wave of a magic Supreme Court wand? It seems unlikely. The issue is a cat with many more than nine lives. It arrived in the early 1970s and, despite many attacks, some of which have taken the form of amendments to state constitutions, it has survived in pretty fine fettle. 

The court will have only eight justices to hear the arguments. Elena Kagan, having been involved in the case as solicitor general in the Obama administration, has bowed out of participation. Her absence, however, leaves five justices likely to express at least some degree of skepticism about the racial preferences given to non-Asian minorities in the admissions process. 

Has the University of Texas been enriched by academic diversity? Maybe. But equally likely is the possibility that racial double standards reinforce stereotypes about smart whites and even smarter Asians. There are certainly wide gaps in the average SAT scores between blacks and Hispanics, on the one hand, and whites and Asians, on the other hand. 

Among freshmen entering the University of Texas in 2009 who did not fall into the top 10% of their high school class (automatic admission at the university), Asians scored at the 93rd percentile of 2009 SAT takers nationwide, whites at the 89th percentile, Hispanics at the 80th percentile and blacks at the 52nd percentile. Startling? No. This picture has been well known for a long time. Heartbreaking, yes, because the numbers mean the underperforming minority students are being woefully ill served by the K-12 school system. Moreover, arriving at institutions of higher education with an academic disadvantage, they do not catch up, as it has become clear.  QUESTIONS:

Q1:
1. What is going before the Supreme Court?
2. 
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Q2:
1. The case of Fisher v. University of Texas will go before what number of judges?
2. How many judges will hear Fisher v. University of Texas?
3. 
Q3:
1. Which judge bowed out?
2. Which judge recused themselves from Fisher v. University of Texas?
3. 
Q4:
1. Who is bringing Fisher v. University of Texas to the Supreme Court?
2. Who is the plaintiff in Fisher v. University of Texas?
3. 
Q5:
1. Is Abigail Fisher Hispanic?
2. Does Abigail Fisher identify as Hispanic?
3. 
Q6:
1. What is Abigail Fisher's ethnic background?
2. What race is Abigail Fisher?
3. 
Q7:
1. Why is Abigail Fisher going to court?
2. What made Abigail Fisher decide to go to court?
3. 
Q8:
1. What is the University of Texas' position on its racial and ethnic diversity?
2. What is the perspective of the University of Texas with respect to its racial and ethnic diversity?
3. 
Q9:
1. Has the Supreme Court heard many cases like Fisher v. University of Texas?
2. Have  a lot of cases similar to Fisher v. University of Texas gone before the Supreme Court?
3. 
Q10:
1. When did issues of affirmative action first come to light?
2. When was affirmative action first litigated?
3. 
Q11:
1. What were the nationwide scores of Asian students on the SAT?
2. How did Asian students across the United States do on the SATs?
3. 
Q12:
1. Were the SAT scores of Asian students startling?
2. Were people taken aback by the SAT score percentil of Asian students?
3. 
