Position Paper -- Affirmative Action

Essential Question: Does affirmative action uphold or violate the 14th Amendment Equal Protection Clause?

Concepts to include:

Equal protection
14th amendment
republicanism
federalism
limited government
judicial review
equality before the law

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Two important U.S. Supreme Court Cases

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA REGENTS v. BAKKE, 438 U.S. 265 (1978)

ADARAND CONSTRUCTORS, INC. v. PENA, _ U.S. ___ (1995)

The Articles

• Longtime debate on affirmative action gains new attention
  The number of minorities, particularly Black Americans, winning government contracts and being admitted to public colleges and universities in California has dwindled since a ballot measure was passed 10 years ago outlawing preferential treatment for minorities in those areas, according to a study released Friday.
• Affirmative action contested in Mich.
  Proposal on ballot seen as harbinger for policy in U.S.
• TUSD deseg keeps many out of schools they'd prefer
  A student at Mansfeld Middle School, Yleana would like her to go to Roskruge Bilingual Magnet School, down the street, and her parents agree. But Yleana and hundreds of other children can't get admitted there or at many other schools across the city strictly because of their ethnicity.
• Walter E. Willimas - "Affirmative Action Bake Sale"
• R.I. student group shows defiance with scholarship for whites only
• Scalia's affirmative action dissent: A self-fulfilling prophecy?
  On November 17 the United States Supreme Court decided not to accept review of a federal appellate ruling upholding Denver's affirmative action program for minority-owned and female-owned construction firms. Because the Supreme Court turns down many more cases than it accepts for review, it does not ordinarily give any reasons for its decision. Following that practice, the Court did not explain its decision in the Denver case.
• Supreme Court decision upholds and limits affirmative action
  The U.S. Supreme Court has made a landmark split decision that allows universities to use race as a factor in choosing which students to admit. However, the court limited the extent to which that factor could be used.
• High court OKs race factor in college admissions
  A U.S. Supreme Court decision Monday gives the green light to a University of Arizona plan to consider race as one factor under a new admissions policy.The Supreme Court, in an opinion written by Arizona native Sandra Day O'Connor, upheld a University of Michigan Law School practice that includes race as one factor in deciding admittance.
  
• High court expected to rule on affirmative action--At issue: Whether race may be factor in admissions
  Over the years affirmative action has created its own competing lexicons: Debate simmers over whether it is about diversity or discrimination; inclusion or intolerance; fairness or fallacy.
• Supreme Court hears affirmative action arguments
  Ruling could impact job hiring, government contracts
  A seemingly divided Supreme Court Tuesday wrestled with the contentious, politically charged issue of affirmative action in one of the most important cases the justices have heard in years.
• Supreme Court to Hear Race Bias Case
• Bush promotes 'race-neutral' college ideas
  Supreme Court arguments scheduled Tuesday
  -As Supreme Court arguments near, the Bush administration is aggressively encouraging schools to avoid race-based admissions programs like those at the University of Michigan which it contends are unconstitutional.
• Tennessee campus offers glimpse of affirmative action's pros, cons
  University of Memphis -- a name taken in the early 1990s to accompany a new image -- is one of the most diverse college campuses in the country. Some call it an affirmative action success story, one in which a third of the school's 16,000 undergraduates are black, and where students of many races mingle with little thought of the past.
• Affirmative Action Poll Glance
  How different demographic and political groups feel toward questions in the AP poll on affirmative action conducted by ICR/International Communications Research of Media, Pa.
• Affirmative Action Poll Method
  Associated Press poll on the public's feelings about affirmative action is based on telephone interviews with 1,013 randomly selected adults from all states except Alaska and Hawaii. The interviews were conducted Feb. 28-March 4 by ICR/International Communications Research of Media, Pa.
• Bush administration likely to defend awkward affirmative action stance
  The Bush administration will probably go before the Supreme Court to explain its stance in a politically and racially charged affirmative action case, a senior official said Monday.
• Federal judge rebuffs affirmative action
  http://www.azstarnet.com/star/today/10328NMICH-AFFIRM-NYT.html
  A federal judge in Detroit ruled yesterday that the admissions system of the University of Michigan's law school was unconstitutional because of the way it considered an applicant's race.
• Judge affirms affirmative action in Michigan admissions policy
  http://www.cnn.com/2000/LAW/12/13/michigan.admissions.civ.ap/index.html
  DETROIT, Michigan (AP) -- In a case that may be headed for the Supreme Court, a federal judge on Wednesday upheld the University of Michigan's use of affirmative action in its admissions policy.
• Success harder for minorities, study finds
• Yahoo! News Full Coverage-Affirmative Action
  http://dailynews.yahoo.com/fc/US/Affirmative_Action/ (18963 Bytes) 30-Jan-01
• Affirmative Action Review--Report to the President
• "Americans United for Affirmative Action"A pro affirmative action web site
• Letter In Response to Anti-Affirmative Action Efforts
  Letter In Response to Anti-Affirmative Action Efforts Because affirmative action in college and university admissions policies continues to be in the... http://www.acenet.edu/washington/letters/1999/01january/letters_anti_afirmative.html
• New affirmative action fight set for court
• Most Of California's Prop. 187 Ruled Unconstitutional
• Anti-Affirmative Action Proposition Passes In California
• South Africa tries affirmative action
• Is Affirmative Action Racist?
• Thousands march to protest affirmative action ban
• California law barring affirmative action takes effect
• Workers aided by affirmative action uneasy about future
• Affirmative action foes target expected nominee
• Clinton Administration Switches Sides In New Jersey Affirmative Action Case
• Court Rejects Affirmative Action Cases
• Affirmative action acrimony
• Courts look at affirmative action admission policies
• Federal Affirmative Action Ban Clears First House Hurdle
• NAACP president blasts Supreme Court on affirmative action decisions
• Affirmative Action Program Preserved In Highway Bill
• Many affirmative action articles and sites from Findlaw
• Study finds race's powerful role in American society
• Economics of Affirmative Action
  Carl Gutiérrez-Jones: Profile. Carl Gutiérrez-Jones is an Associate Professor in the Department of English and the Comparative Literature Program at...
  http://aad.english.ucsb.edu/pages/carlgj.html (3536 Bytes) 21-Oct-99
  
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