Does affirmative action right the wrong or wrong the right?

If you see someone held back for no fault of his own, don't you hope that something can be done to right the wrong?

But what if that something then disadvantages somebody else? Stronger yet, what if that somebody else is you?

These questions have come to the forefront in a lawsuit in Boston, Massachusetts, whose consequences are likely to be felt in the city, the state and across the US.