United States Supreme Court
Prohibiting discrimination and ending segregation are both starts in overcoming societal problems. Measures
such as busing and fixing racial ratios among students and teachers go beyond this and actively promote
integration. But the effects of generations of discrimination and social and educational segregation do
not disappear overnight. Businesses and educational institutions created financial aid and affirmative
action programs for the benign purpose of including minorities historically excluded from their ranks.
Affirmative action programs have also aroused opposition from white males, who claim these programs are
a form of reverse discrimination, and thus a violation of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the equal protection
clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.
Allan Bakke was rejected three times by the University of California-Davis medical school, and he sued,
claiming reverse discrimination because the school reserved sixteen of one hundred first-year spots for
minority students.The Supreme Court thus had to address the conflict between the right of an individual
not to be discriminated against and the power of the state to legislate in favor of certain groups suffering
the effects of past discrimination. The court was badly splintered, with six different opinions written,
and as a result the court compromised. In Justice Powell’s opinion, the Burger court established that
universities and other public agencies could use race as a legitimate consideration in policy matters.
However, in Bakke’s case the medical school’s quota system went too far. What was the court’s reasoning
for this decision? What is the role of diversity in a university, and why is that important in this opinion?
The dissenting justices were quite blunt. Upset with the majority dancing around the race issue, Justice
Blackmun declared: "In order to get beyond racism, we first must take account of race. There is no
other way." Along with Justices Brennan, White, and Marshall, he did not believe that the Fourteenth
Amendment barred preferential treatment of minorities to compensate for past discrimination. This was
deemed necessary if the court’s intention in Brown v. The Board of Education was ever to
be carried out. Justice Brennan also dismissed Bakke’s claim of injury because his failure to be admitted
did not stamp him as inferior to the rest of society. He did not suffer as minorities had in the past.
Read the dissenting opinion. Is there a problem with the reasoning of these justices? Can you think of
other options Bakke had but did not pursue? |
