An Ingham County judge is considering a case that might end the petition drive attempting to outlaw race and gender preferences in Michigan through a constitutional amendment.

Staff at the Ingham County Courthouse said Judge Paula Manderfield had made the case a priority but didn't speculate as to how soon she would issue an opinion.

The petitions in question belong to the Michigan Civil Rights Initiative, an organization seeking to ban preferences at public institutions based on race, sex, color, ethnicity and national origin. Petitioners must gather more than 317,000 signatures by July 6 in order to put the issue on the fall ballot.

The lawsuit was filed against the Michigan Board of Canvassers by a coalition of affirmative action supporters. The coalition contends the language of the petition is misleading to Michigan voters and does not specify what sections of the constitution will be altered if the initiative passes.

Luke Massie, national co-chair for the pro-affirmative action group By Any Means Necessary, said about 400 people attended the hearing to protest the initiative.

"It is our intention to exhaust the remedies in the law in order to keep a fraud from being perpetrated on the voters of Michigan," he said. "Either way, it's likely to be appealed but I'm optimistic that we will have a victory at this stage."

The hearing came on the heels of a weekend visit by Ward Connerly, who is spearheading the initiative in Michigan after fighting for a similar proposal in his home state of California nine years ago.

Before Connerly spoke to initiative supporters at an informational meeting, campaign manager Tim O'Brien said the organization was "greatly encouraged" by the public interest in the initiative.