The issue has drawn significant interest from student groups close to campus.

Michigan voters passed Proposal 2 in 2006, leading to a state-wide ban on the use of affirmative action in public college admissions.

Ariam Abraham, an education senior from the University of Michigan, said it was inspiring and powerful to see so many who supported affirmative action. As an affirmative action activist at the University of Michigan, she said she’s noticed firsthand the decline of minorities on campus since Proposal 2 passed.

“As a black student at the University of Michigan, I’ve seen how it’s played out in the classrooms — it’s pitiful,” Abraham said. “But I am hopeful and I think the crowd is expecting a vote in our favor.”

The justices are not expected to issue a decision in the case for months.

Wendell Anthony, president of the Detroit branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, said he was very pleased with how the case went. He said he thought there were good arguments with a solid representation.A supporter for affirmative action, he said he was satisfied with the number of questions that Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Ruth Bader Ginsburg asked.

“The fact that this was about race in the political (sector), and the (fact that) numbers are down in U-M (and) down across the country, that’s very critical,” Anthony said.

“And this is the Supreme Court, we’re hoping they will be ‘supreme’ and do the right thing.”

Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette took a different approach, favoring the state’s continued use of Proposal 2. Schuette said students should not receive special consideration based on their race or ethnicity.

“Equal treatment ought to be the letter of the law,” Schuette said. “Any criteria or assessment that a university might make that results in racial discrimination is just wrong.”

During a post-case press conference, Mark Rosenbaum, an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union who defended affirmative action in the case, restated his earlier arguments, telling reporters that since affirmative action passed, the number of black students at the University of Michigan declined by almost a third.

“This is an attempt to end racial diversity in all schools,” Rosenbaum said.

Shanta Driver, a lawyer representing opponents of the ban, said that whenever issues of race are at play, there’s obviously a big divide on the court. She said she is confident of the outcome and expects a vote favoring affirmative action.

“I think we’ll definitely have the stronger argument, and if this was just a question on logic, and application on precedent, we would win.”