A group that advocates diversity excludes a potential member because of its uh, diverse thinking. Another pathetic sketch from Saturday Night Live? Nope, this is every day really live.

...the Twin Cities Diversity in Practice group set off a tempest when it excluded a firm that handled a pair of landmark U.S. Supreme Court cases challenging affirmative action. The group's leaders said letting the Minneapolis law firm of Maslon, Edelman, Borman & Brand join the effort would hamper its mission: to make the bar more racially diverse.

...four Jewish lawyers who couldn't get jobs at other firms 50 years ago started Maslon. The firm now is one of three major Twin Cities law firms with a female managing partner. About 29 percent of its lawyers are women and 5 percent are minorities. For his part, Kolbo said he was upholding a basic premise of the legal system when he worked with the Michigan applicants. "I have always thought one of the great privileges and obligations of a lawyer is to represent people with legal rights even if it's controversial or not popular," Kolbo said. "I am proud to work for a firm that agrees with that philosophy." Kolbo also represented parents whose white children were denied admissions to St. Paul's Capitol Hill Magnet School even though they had passed admissions criteria and slots were open. The issue settled before trial days before Minnesota passed rules at that time putting an end to race-based admissions.