...Written Case Brief Case Title: Gratz v. Bollinger 2003. The Law: This case involved the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment, Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and 42 U.S.C. §1981. The Equal Protection Clause says that states must treat every person equally under the law. A state can’t discriminate against a person or a group of people for no good reason (“Bill of Rights Institute...”); there must be a compelling government interest to rationalize any type of discrimination. Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 says that programs that receive federal funding cannot discriminate against a person based on their race. A wronged party can file a complaint with the Department of Justice to pursue a legal course of action (“Title IV of the Civil Rights…”)....
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...Whites Swim in Racial Preference Nathan Wood Sociology 111-001-F1 Ivy Tech Community College Muncie, Indiana The article “Whites swim in racial preference” is a phraseology comparison of fish and water in regards to the privilege of being white or Caucasian. The article by Tim Wise points to the ignorance of the most powerful man in the world in regards to the racial divide in this country even at the highest level of education. Wise also mentions a government loan program in the form of FHA loans to as many as 15 million white Americans for over thirty years. Today FHA loans are now mainly used by low income families of African American and Hispanic homebuyers. (Dedman, 1998) Privileged whites now label FHA as a form of welfare, which is amusing since so many whites benefitted from the program from the 1930’s to 1960’s. Another reference in the article referred to hard working whites, differentiating themselves from minority groups that dot the labor landscape working as maids, garbage collectors etc…as if they care not hard working due them these workers being from a specific ethnic group. While some articles I have researched seem to think The FHA loan program, was a form of social control. However, I see this more as Social Stratification as A segment of society (15 million whites) shared a distinctive pattern of rules (FHA Loans) that differed from the pattern of the larger society. Obviously other social tags could...
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...to institutions to hiring them, accepting them into schools among other economic arenas. Some legislation, such as the Civil Rights Act of 1964, that outlawed all sorts of discrimination against anyone based on race, gender, and religion, and included desegregation of public schools. The term "affirmative action" was first used in the United States in "Executive Order” signed by President John F. Kennedy in 1961, which included a provision that government contractors "take affirmative action to ensure that applicants are employed, and employees are treated during employment, without regard to their race, creed, colour, or national origin.” In the United States, affirmative action has been the subject of numerous court cases. In Grutter v. Bollinger (2003), the Supreme Court permitted educational institutions to consider race as a factor when admitting students. In other countries, such as the United Kingdom, affirmative action is rendered illegal because it does not treat all races equally. This approach to equal treatment is described as being "colour blind." In 1995 after the case of Adarand Constructors v.Pena, Justice Thomas stated that “the constitution, federal and state laws should all be coloured blind”. Meaning these areas should treat every individual equally, removing the previous barriers that may have been present. The original idea of Affirmative action was to reduce discrimination. Ensuring that all people of any race, gender or religious affiliation are protected...
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...Attorney FEES – Lovell * American rule: - every party takes care of Attorney fees * Some states have embraced the catalyst theory – * England has fee shifting in every civil case: - there is a SC that determines nothing in England but attorney fees. * The reality with this is that there is less litigation because any losing party has to pay the others fee. * The cost should be reasonable so you can’t just say that you billed all the amount and now need to be paid. * Civil rights attorney fee: - The second front: - The battle lines for civil rights – there is grudging attitude on court awarded attorney fees – since 1987 we have had the grudging area of the court allowing attorney fees – hard to get fees if prevailing party, hard to calculate – grudging – * The attorney fee is statutory – so congress can change the rules. * The case below – if negotiating on fees as a plaintiff then negotiate the fees in the agreement (attorney fees) – so you negotiate the fee with the settlement decree or you will be out of luck. * Dissent: - * Pg. 912- there is a 2 tier standard for a prevailing P: - * You get the fees regularly absent circumstances that would render the fee unjust. E.g pro se representation. * Garland independent school: - ct held that you don’t need a central issue standard; - just need to point to a ….. Civil Rights Attorneys’ Fees Award Act of 1976 (42 U.S.C. § 1988(b)) 1. In any action or proceeding to enforce...
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...Some of the arguments against affirmative action include: * It is unfair to judge applicants on anything other than their merits. – There are numerous factors that a college should take into account when considering applicants – grades, test scores, and extra-curricular activities. An applicant’s race is not a legitimate factor to take into consideration because it is outside of the student’s control. It is impossible for a college to consider every aspect of a student’s background when making decisions on whom to admit. Why focus on race when there are so many other things that differentiate students from one another? * Affirmative action does not lead to true diversity. – Diversity of opinion is important in an academic community, not racial diversity. Affirmative action provides an advantage to some people because of the color of their skin. This is not an attribute that is relevant to the academic mission of a college. Affirmative action gives preferential treatment based exclusively on race, which is a purely external characteristic. * Affirmative action does not help really disadvantaged groups. – In many cases, affirmative action does not achieve its goal of helping disadvantaged minority groups. What it does is perpetuates socioeconomic inequalities by making it easy for members of racial minorities from privileged backgrounds to get into prestigious colleges while not helping members of the lower classes. * White Men Win $11 million Lawsuit for Reverse...
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...decades ago, racism was a more violent word. This is to say that race these days usually boils down to a debate as to how it determines a person’s opportunities in life. Affirmative action was created to help shift the equilibrium struck in the U.S. as far as statistics of African Americans working in high-paying professional environments are concerned. A consequence of this action was seen in the case Bakke v. UC Regents, a case in which medical schools were setting aside racial quotas and accepting this quota of African-American students even though it was proven that their test scores were generally lower (Abernathy 1233). These quotas are not just for either race and racial equality is ultimately set when race doesn’t play a factor in whether someone gets hired or accepted into a position. There has been a host of court cases in America dealing with this “Affirmative action” issue in colleges and graduate schools. A look at this progression will help people to understand where Affirmative action is today and how colleges accept students based on race. Bakke v. UC Regents is an example case of a bigger issue in America about the fairness of affirmative action. This case is also what the first case to appear that really dealt with a racial bias as it was concerned to acceptance into a professional school. While affirmative action is not the reason in which this school set racial quotas, the idea behind setting it is the same as the idea behind affirmative action. ...
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...held inherent rights. Our founding fathers immediately ingrained discrimination into the bones of this country and set the stage for years of struggle to achieve equal opportunity. After 185 years of denying equal social and economic opportunities to minorities and women, America’s leaders chose to act. The actions of John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson brought forward a plan called affirmative action: to address the under-representation of qualified minorities and women in higher education and the workplace. With a foundation that contains discrimination in its core, affirmative action did not come without controversy. It has been the central topic of notable Supreme Court cases such as University of California Regents v. Bakke, Grutter v. Bollinger, and Fisher v. University of Texas. Many who oppose affirmative action argue that race-conscious programs lead to reverse discrimination and group preferences over individual merit. Through arguments, data and research, it will be shown that affirmative action is indeed an effective remedy for addressing racial inequality in higher education and other institutions. Without it in this current time, large negative effects would be felt throughout higher education and higher education. Affirmative action’s origins stem from an executive order that John F. Kennedy wrote in regards to the hiring practices of employers. It stated “...will not discriminate against any employee or applicant for employment because of race, creed, color,...
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...The Court is now overseeing the case of Fisher vs. Texas over the Affirmation Act and Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. The University of Texas at Austin has been using race as a factor for the admissions process and Fisher has come to believe it diminished her chances of going to the school. The Affirmative Action Act is used to eliminate discrimination due to race and other variables. By using race as a variable to be admitted into their University, Texas has committed an unconstitutional policy because it breaks the Equal Protection Clause under the Fourteenth Amendment. The Equal Protection Clause states equal privileges for all United States citizens. The affirmative action act is the policy designed to help eliminate discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin in areas such as: businesses, education, and employment. Affirmative action was originally used to help the ongoing battle against racism towards African Americans. However, the term affirmative action was first used in President John F. Kennedy’s 1961 Executive Order 10925 which required “federal contractors to “take affirmative action to ensure that applicants are employed, and that the employees are treated during employment, without regard to their race, creed, color, or national origin.” ” In 1967 Lyndon Johnson expanded his executive order 11246 (the equivalent of Kennedy’s executive order) to include affirmative action to benefit women (Sykes). Fisher vs. The...
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...Carlos Tapia January 17, 2015 GRUTTER V. BOLLINGER 539 U.S. 206 (2003) PLAINTIFF/PETITIONER: Barbara Grutter DEFENDANT/ RESPONDENT: Lee C. Bollinger, Jr. / University of Michigan FACTS: The University of Michigan receives a high number of applicants each year to its College of Law. To help with admission decisions, the University has a point system in place. The point system is out of 100 points. A student that is from an underrepresented group automatically receives 20 points towards his or her overall score. These students are typically minority students. The Petitioner, Barbara Grutter, applied for admission to the Law School but was denied despite having an undergraduate GPA of 3.8 and LSAT of 161. Barbara Grutter, who is white, challenges the admissions practices of the University of Michigan Law School. She claimed that she was being discriminated against on the basis of her race in violation of her Constitutional rights pursuant to the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. ISSUES: Does the fact that the University’s law school considers race and ethnicity when it decides which students to admit violate the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution or the Civil Rights Act of 1964? COURTS: Trial Court: U.S. District Court = YES; Judgment granted to the Plaintiff Appellate Courts: Court of Appeals: 6th Circuit Court = NO; Reversed the Trail Court decision, Judgment for the Defendant...
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...Supporters of affirmative action fear that the Supreme Court could curtail or further restrict the use of race-conscious admissions policies at public universities. On Wednesday, all eyes will be on Justice Anthony Kennedy, whose vote is considered pivotal in the case brought by a white Texan who has sued the University of Texas at Austin, claiming that she was denied admission to the school in 2008 because of her race. Abigail Fisher, who has since graduated from Louisiana State University, said she was subject to unequal treatment in violation of the 14th Amendment. "I was taught from the time I was a little girl that any kind of discrimination was wrong, and for an institution of higher learning to act this way makes no sense to me," Fisher said in an interview clip posted on the website of the Project on Fair Representation, a legal defense foundation that's providing her with legal representation. On the other side are lawyers for the University of Texas, who argue that, like many other universities, UT seeks to assemble a class that is diverse in innumerable ways -- including race -- and that "race is just one of many characteristics that form the mosaic presented by an applicant's file." More than 90 friend of the court briefs have been filed in the case, with the Obama administration weighing in favor of the university. Others, who support Fisher, argue that diversity can be achieved through race-neutral programs, and that race-preferential admissions policies can...
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...1. Is the Bruin Diversity Plan constitutional according to the Equal Protection Clause, strict scrutiny, and the Grutter v. Bollinger and Gratz v. Bollinger cases? Your response should include a summary of the basic facts and holding of the Grutter and Gratz cases and clearly apply the legal test of strict scrutiny to the Bruin Diversity Plan. The “Bruin Diversity” plan is a proposed admission policy that’s goal is to promote greater student body diversity. The “Bruin Diversity” plan has four stated goals. Goals that aim to reduce historic deficit of ethnic minority groups, to remedy the effects of societal discrimination of ethnic minority groups, to increase the number of professionals who will practice in underserved communities, and to obtain an ethnically diverse student body. The “Bruin Diversity” admission process will utilize a “Selection Index” (point system). The ethnic minority applicants will also receive an extra 20 points and be evaluated by a special committee. Approximately 33% of all admission slots will be given to ethnic minority groups, thanks to...
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...laws-minorities Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) Adolph Plessy who is ⅞ white, was arrested when he refused to sit in the “blacks only” railroad car. He said this violated his 14th amendment. Verdict: 7-1 decision for Ferguson, majority by Henry B. Brown. The court ruled that if the cars are separate yet equal then the louisiana law does not violate the 14th amendment. Brown v. board of education of Topeka, I (1954) African children were denied admittance into certain public schools that were segregated. The parents argued that denying them admittance was violating their 14th amendment. Verdict: unanimous decision for Brown , majority by Earl Warren. They said that separate but equal educational facilities was obviously unequal...
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...Title VI was a huge break point in giving minorities right to education as it protected “people from discrimination based on race, color or national origin in programs or activities that receive Federal financial assistance” (“Education and Title VI”). The effectiveness of Title VI can be seen when it was challenged in the Gratz v. Bollinger supreme court case. The University of Michigan took into account that race or anyone qualified as a unrepresentative minority to be a factor in their acceptance. Jennifer Gratz, who applied to one of the University’s program in 1995, was denied admission due to her Caucasian descent. Gratz took her case to the supreme court and won since “the Equal Protection Clause prohibits any racial discrimination for the purposes of higher education admission” (“Gratz v....
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...Affirmative Action Julia Samsa The History of Affirmative Action: Landmark Cases and Legislation Affirmative action refers to policies designed to increase the presence of “underrepresented” demographic groups-such as racial or ethnic minorities and women-in specific sectors of the workforce or in the student bodies of American universities (Affirmative Action, 2010). Affirmative action policies are founded on the premise that any observed imbalance in a given workforce or student body is due, either wholly or in part, to past and/or present discrimination-the remedy for which consists of compensatory preferences in favor of the underrepresented group(s). These measures most commonly take the form of lowered standards for the hiring, promotion, or admission of members of the preferred groups and set-asides which reserve or earmark a designated percentage of slots for members of the preferred group. Historically, the origins of affirmative action were subtle and incremental. The term “affirmative action” was first introduced to the nation by President John F. Kennedy in March 1961. The President signed Executive Order 10925 which established the President’s Commission on Equal Employment Opportunity (Magee, 2011). By this order, any business working under a federal government contract must take affirmative action in hiring and not discriminate on the basis of race, creed, color, or national origin (Wilcher, 2006). JFK’s order did not advocate for the preferential treatment...
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...In 1978, the idea of reverse discrimination was made prevalent through the case of Regents of University of California v. Bakke, when Allan Bakke, a white applicant, was rejected twice by the University of California. Despite having better test scores than most of the minorities who got accepted, Allan was denied admission because the University of Davis had a policy which reserved a fixed number of spots for minority applicants. The court ruled that race can be considered during admission decisions in order to help diversify the campus, however, universities cannot allocate the spots (Lark 32). This case is important because it was the first case that successfully challenged affirmative action. There were many cases afterwards that led to the restriction affirmative action in admission practices such as Hopwood v. Texas, Gratz v. Bollinger, Grutter vs. Bollinger,...
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