The constitutional issue was Allan Bakke a white male who applied to and was

rejected from the regular admissions program, while minority applicants with lower grade

point averages and testing scores were admitted under the speciality admissions program.

Bakke filed suit, alleging that this admissions system violated the Equal Protection

Clause and excluded him on the basis of race. The parties that were involved in the case

were Allan Bakke, Supreme Court, Justice Powell, and also the Blacks, Chicanos, Asians,

American Indians.

The case had taken place by the Supreme Court of the United States which was argued

on October 12, 1977, and was decided on June 28, 1978. Before the Supreme Court

began when Allan Bakke applied at The Medical School of the University of California at

Davis which had two admissions programs for entering the class of 100 students the

regular admissions program and the special admissions program. Though he had a 468

out of 500 score in 1973, he was rejected, since no general applicants with scores less

than 470 were being accepted after respondent's application, which was filed late in the

year, had been processed and completed. In 1974 Bakke had applied early, and though

he had a total score of 549 out 600, he was again rejected. In those two years his name

was not placed on the discretionary writing list. In both years, special applicants were

admitted with significantly lower scores than respondent’s. After his second rejection,

Bakke filed his action in state court mandatory, injunctive, and declaratory relief to

compel his admissions to Davis, explaining that the special admissions program

operated to exclude him on the basis of his race in violation of the Equal Protection

Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. The trial court found that the special program

operated as a racial quota, because minority applicants in that program were rated only

against one another, and 16 places in the class of 100 were reserved for them.

The Supreme Court, in a 5-4 decision written by Justice Lewis Franklin Powell, ruled

that a state may constitutionally consider race as a factor in its university admissions to

promote educational diversity, but only if considered alongside other factors and on a

case-by-case basis. And also since Bakke had established that the University had

discriminated against him on the basis of his race, the burden of proof shifted to the

University to demonstrate that he would not have been admitted even in the absence of

the special admissions program. The Supreme Court, agreed that the university’s use of

strict racial quotas was unconstitutional so that lead to help make their decision.

There was no single majority opinion. Four of the justices contended that any racial

quota system supported by government violated the Civil Rights Act of 1964. I believe

the case of Bakke was successful because if the Fourteenth Amendment is the Equal

Protection Clause then no person shall on the ground of race or color be excluded from

participating in any program receiving federal financial assistance. Furthermore i think

this case is considered a “landmark” because the landmark decisions in this area arose in

response to the continued exclusion of Negroes from the mainstream of American

society, they could be characterized as involving discrimination by the "majority" white

race against the Negro minority.