Regents of the University of California v. Bakke 1978

AuthorDaniel Brannen, Richard Hanes, Elizabeth Shaw
Pages488-494

Page 488

Petitioner: The University of California at Davis Medical School

Petitioner's Claim: That the University of California Medical School's special admission affirmative action program violated Bakke's civil rights when he was denied admission.

Chief Lawyer for Petitioner: Archibald Cox, Paul J. Mishkin, Jack B. Owens, Donald L. Reidhaar

Chief Lawyer for Respondent: Reynold H. Colvin

Justices for the Court: Chief Justice Warren Burger, Lewis F. Powell, Jr., William H. Rehnquist, John Paul Stevens, Potter Stewart

Justices Dissenting: Harry A. Blackmun, William J. Brennan, Jr., Thurgood Marshall, Byron R. White

Date of Decision: June 28, 1978

Decision: Ruled in favor of Bakke by finding the school's special admissions program unconstitutional because of its use of quotas and that Bakke should be admitted.

Significance: The Court ruled that race could be one factor among several considered for admissions, but it could not be the only factor considered. Since race could be considered, the ruling was the first court approval of affirmative action.

Page 489

On October 12, 1977 a long line wound its way up the marble staircase and between the towering columns of the U.S. Supreme Court building. Some had camped out all night to get a chance to hear the case to be argued that day, Regents of the University of California v. Allan Bakke, the first affirmative action case to reach the Supreme Court.

The courtroom was packed, yet most of the audience had obtained tickets through their connections to the court or through the parties to the case. Despite their special interest in the case, only a small number of people of color or women could be spotted in the select gathering. This alone was testimony (evidence) to the many years of gender (sex) exclusion in professional circles.

Demonstrators who marched in the streets that day were of a decidedly different makeup. Men and women of all colors marched not only outside the Court but from New York to Berkeley, California, raising banners and chanting slogans such as "We won't go back. We won't go back!" The crowds put the Court and world on notice that whatever the outcome in the case, the struggle to open the doors of universities to minorities would go on, never to return to the days when the same demonstrators' grandparents and parents could not gain admission. However, not all Americans supported these demonstrators. Many were opposed to giving increased opportunity at the expense of others through affirmative action programs.

What's All the Fuss About?

Affirmative action means making a special effort to provide opportunities in education and businesses for members of groups (people of color and women) that had been discriminated (giving privileges to one group but not to another) against in the past. In the mid-1970s, educational affirmative action programs often used "quotas." Quotas meant setting a goal that a certain number of minority students would be admitted.

The medical school at the Davis campus of the University of California had such a program in 1970. The program called for a quota of sixteen out of one...

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