Affirmative Action Backed in Largely Black Brazil Brazil's top court has backed sweeping affirmative action programs used in more than 1,000 universities across the nation, which has more blacks than nearly any other country, yet where a severe gap in education equality between races persists. The Supreme Court voted 7-1 vote late Thursday to uphold a federal program that has provided scholarships to hundreds of thousands of black and mixed-race students for university studies. Its constitutionality was challenged by the right-of-center DEM political party. Three justices abstained from the vote. The court ruled last week in a separate case that it was constitutional for universities to use racial quotas in determining who is admitted.