things are going to get not-so-sweet...

What of affirmative action now after Grutter and Gratz? Absolutely nothing has changed. The status quo remains. So the liberals won the battle.

However, they are in the process of losing the war. Grutter itself only allows for 25 more years of affirmative action. After that (rather arbitrary time period), the need for affirmative action shall no longer be a compelling interest. Or so the majority opinion goes.

So at the very least, we can tell that the Court has only grudgingly affirmed the viability of the self-refuting doctrine of AA. As with most of O'Connor's opinions, this one seems facially liberal, but is laden with a deep conservative qualification. Perhaps it may prove to be so deep as to be lost in application. But the reservation has been duly noted.