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Reverse Discrimination of Affirmative Action Programs

that applicants are employed . . . without regard to their race, creed, color, or national origin.' This first step was followed by a series of court cases amplifying the principle of affirmative action, as in the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Griggs v. Duke Power Company (1971), which invalidated intelligence tests and other criteria [entrance exams] that tended to restrict minority employment (Affirmative Action entry)

The above citation is significant because it opened the floodgates for further programs at the public level. Colleges and universities, the training grounds for future employees, saw their role in Johnson's plan for a more equitable playing field. The fact that such affirmative action programs might be prejudicial in a reverse direction was lost on those early proponents who envisioned a "great society" unburdened by the prejudicial sins of the past. Now, twenty years after Johnson's attempt to create a fairer society, affirmative action policies are being reassessed by those who have yet to see a more equitable society as a result.

Rumblings of discontent with affirmative action policies are nothing new. In 1978, after thirteen years of Johnson's program, the Supreme Court was asked to hear the case of Regents of the University of California v. Baake. Baake was a student denied admission to the University of California at Davis medical school because of its quota system. On the basis that he was a victim of reverse discrimination--and that his right to equal protection under the law had been violated--the Supreme Court ruled that special admissions programs were unconstitutional, and Baake was admitted.

On the other hand, in 1980, the Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of federal public works legislation providing that 10% of the work be reserved for minority contractors. It is no wonder that people are strongly divided on the issue of affirmative action when the Supreme Court seemed to wa...

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Reverse Discrimination of Affirmative Action Programs. (1969, December 31). In LotsofEssays.com. Retrieved 22:40, March 28, 2024, from https://www.lotsofessays.com/viewpaper/1693014.html