The U.S. Supreme Court announced on Tuesday that it would hear a challenge to a 2003 ruling that allows public colleges to consider race as a criteria for admissions.

The case, Fisher v. University of Texas at Austin, involves a white student who sued the school after she was denied a spot in the freshman class in 2008. Abigail Fisher and another student, who eventually dropped out of the case, claimed the school's race-conscious policy violated their civil and constitutional rights.

In its 2003 decision in Grutter v. Bollinger, the high court upheld racial considerations in university admissions at the University of Michigan Law School. Since then, many schools, including the University of Texas, have implemented affirmative action programs to increase the number of minority students on campus.

The Project on Fair Representation, which opposes the use of race in public policy, has helped pay Fisher's legal bills. "This case presents the Court with an opportunity to clarify the boundaries of race preferences in higher education or even reconsider whether race should be permitted at all under the Constitution's guarantee of equal protection," said Edward Blum, the group's director.

The project also issued a statement in Fisher's name: "I hope the court will decide that all future UT applicants will be allowed to compete for admission without their race or ethnicity being a factor," she said.

Under Texas law, state schools must admit all applicants who graduate high school in the top 10 percent of their class. Most of the school's incoming freshmen fall under the Top Ten Percent rule, but for the remaining spots, school administrators use race as one of the factors that determine admission.

"We must have the flexibility to consider each applicant's unique experiences and background so we can provide the best environment in which to educate and train the students who will be our nation's future leaders," said Bill Powers, president of the University of Texas at Austin.

Before the school started considering race as an admissions criteria, 21 percent of its students were African-American or Hispanic. In 2007, the year before Fisher applied, minorities made up more than a quarter of that year's freshman class.

Despite the court's relatively recent decision in favor of affirmative action, court watchers say today's group of more conservative justices could reverse that ruling. Justice Elenan Kagan, who might be expected to vote in favor of affirmative action, will not take part in the decision because the case moved through the lower courts during her time as the Obama administration's Solicitor General.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.