In 1978, Allan Bakke filed suit against the University of California, Davis because he had twice, unsuccessfully applied for admission into their medical school, though his grades and test scores surpassed those of minority people who had been admitted because of Affirmative Actions. He claimed it was reverse discrimination which violated the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the equal protection clause in the 14th Amendment of the Constitution. The case, called University of California v. Bakke, went to the Supreme Court and at the end of it, 6 opinions were issued, and the medical school was ordered to admit Bakke. However, Affirmative Action was upheld in the ruling, and while the Supreme Court ruled it Constitutional for race to be used as an admissions criterion, they ruled that the strict 16% reserved for minorities that UC Davis had was Unconstitutional.
While later cases did limit the scope of this, it will be interesting to see if the Students for Fair Admissions (SFFA) v. Harvard makes it to the Supreme Court and how they rule on the matter.
It's interesting to see how this issue has actually come up in multiple court cases, such as Bakke v. UC Regents and Fisher v. University of Texas. It is also very interesting how relevant this issue still is, with the case of SFFA v. Harvard. If affirmative action is taken away or reduced in the decision of SFFA v. Harvard, what would happen? Would there be a policy instituted to ensure admissions still remain equitable, or would minorities become unfairly discriminated against in the college admissions process as they were before affirmative action was a thing?
ReplyDeleteAs we are applying to colleges soon, I also find it very interesting when you hear people in the halls trying so hard to look down their family to see if they can apply as a under-represented minority. Your article made me look at Students for Fair Admissions (SFFA) v. Harvard, and I am interested how the Supreme court will look at this case as it will directly influence us.
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