Facts—Grutter, a white Michigan resident who had applied to and been rejected by the law school at the University of Michigan, argued that the school had discriminated against her on the basis of race in violation of the Fourteenth Amendment and federal statutes. The District Court struck down the school’s use of race, but the …
Grutter v. Bollinger, 539 U.S. 306; 123 S. Ct. 2235; 156 L. Ed. 2d 304 (2003) Read More »
Facts—Gratz and another petitioner, Hamacher, both white, applied to the University of Michigan’s undergraduate college in 1995 and 1997. Although “well qualified,” both were rejected. The university used a system of points, 100 (out of 150) of which were needed to guarantee admission. The school automatically gave members of racial minorities twenty such points in …
Gratz v. Bollinger, 539 U.S. 244; 123 S. Ct. 2411; 155 L. Ed. 2d 510 (2003) Read More »
Facts—A division of the U.S. Department of Transportation awarded a contract for highway construction in Colorado to Mountain Gravel and Construction Company, which solicited bids for subcontracts for guardrails. It awarded the contract to Gonzalez Construction Company over Adarand Constructors because, although Adarand submitted a lower bid, government financial incentives—up to 10 percent of the …
Facts—In 1977 Congress passed the Public Works Employment Act, which provides that “at least 10 percent of federal funds for local public works projects must be used by the state or local grantee to procure services or supplies from businesses owned by minority group members, defined as United States citizens,” who are Blacks, Spanish-speaking, Orientals, …
Fullilove v. Klutznick, 448 U.S. 448; 100 S. Ct. 2758; 65 L. Ed. 2d 902 (1980) Read More »
Facts—In 1974 the United Steel Workers of America (USWA) and Kaiser Aluminum and Chemical Corporation (Kaiser) entered into a master collective bargaining agreement covering terms and conditions of employment. It included an affirmative action plan designed to eliminate racial imbalances in Kaiser’s then almost exclusively white craftwork forces by reserving for black employees 50 percent …
Facts—Allan Bakke, a white male, twice applied (1973–1974) to the Medical School of the University of California at Davis. Despite strong “bench marks” (interviewers’ summaries, overall grade point average, science courses grade point, MCAT scores, letters of recommendation, extracurricular activities, and other biographical data), he was rejected. Davis had two admissions programs for its entering …
Facts—Both the federal District Court and the Court of Appeals had held that inter-district busing was needed to bring about the desegregation of the Detroit city and adjacent or nearby school districts, specially to Wayne, Oakland, and Macomb Counties. Question—Does the equal protection clause require busing between independent school districts to bring about desegregation? Decision—No. …
Milliken v. Bradley, 418 U.S. 717; 94 S. Ct. 3112; 41 L. Ed. 2d 1069 (1974) Read More »
Facts—The Moose Lodge of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, refused service to Leroy Irvis, an African American who was present as the guest of a member. Irvis claimed that since the state liquor board had issued the lodge a private club liquor license, the refusal of service to him was a “state action” in violation of the equal …
Moose Lodge No. 107 v. Irvis, 407 U.S. 163; 92 S. Ct. 1965; 32 L. Ed. 2d 627 (1972) Read More »
Facts—The Charlotte-Mecklenburg school system encompasses the city of Charlotte and surrounding Mecklenburg County, North Carolina. Two-thirds of the African American students in the system attended schools that were either totally black or more than 99 percent black. The federal District Court ordered the school authorities to carry out a plan for desegregation of the schools …
Facts—Jones claimed that the Mayer Company refused to sell him a house in a particular section of St. Louis County solely because he was African American. A federal statute that Congress enacted in 1866 under its power to enforce the Thirteenth Amendment places all citizens on the same level as white citizens to receive, hold, …
Jones v. Alfred H. Mayer Co., 392 U.S. 409; 88 S. Ct. 2186; 20 L. Ed. 2d 1189 (1968) Read More »
