The Michigan Project

Of course, smack in the middle of the Bush decision to combat affirmative action at the University of Michigan is none other than Solicitor General Ted Olson:

Bush Opposes U. of Mich. Admissions Policy

Both administration officials and conservative opponents of affirmative action said yesterday that Bush's position was a political compromise forged amid intense negotiation. Justice Department lawyers, led by Solicitor General Theodore B. Olson, lobbied the president hard for a brief that would categorically declare that not even diversity can justify the use of race. White House political adviser Karl Rove and White House Counsel Alberto Gonzales, sensitive to the need to expand the Republican base to include minorities, pushed in the other direction, the officials said.

Good God, Olson manages to make Karl Rove look like a moderate.