ve such treatment at the expense of non-minorities who had no role in discriminating against the minorities in the first place. This is, of course, the basis for any moral argument in favor of preferential treatment --- the fact that such minorities are the victims of discrimination and disadvantage on a social and individual basis, and the fact that such discrimination and disadvantage is immoral in general and especially so in a society which cherishes the notion and principle that all individuals deserve an equal opportunity at success.
If we see such discrimination and disadvantage as immoral in the context of human society and American society particularly, then it is clear that some form of correcting the consequences of such discrimination and disadvantage is a legitimately moral correction. It is reasonable, in this ethical debate, to agree with Powell that the action loses its moral
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