Affirmative Action Aided Nominee

U.S. Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas was admitted to Yale Law School under an affirmative action program to boost minorities to about 10% of the freshman class, a newspaper reported Sunday.

The Yale affirmative action program was adopted in 1971, the year Thomas applied for entrance, the New York Times said.

School officials told the newspaper that blacks and some Latino applicants were evaluated differently than whites. They were not admitted, however, unless they met standards indicating that they could succeed at the highly competitive school, the newspaper said.

Thomas has frequently criticized affirmative action policies and advocated a colorblind society. However, he has also acknowledged that affirmative action helped him.