Affirmative Action Case

Affirmative action is a policy or a program that seeks to redress past discrimination of minorities through active measures in order to ensure equal opportunity, as in education and employment. In other words, it is policy that was established to hopefully eliminate racial preference and equalize the United States. The fight against discrimination has been a long lasting one that started with the case of Plessy vs. Ferguson, which ended in the desegregation of all schools (Ficker). Affirmative action was put into place in 1965 when President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Executive Order that mandated government contractors to “take affirmative action” in all aspects of hiring and employing minorities (Brunner). Upon its arrival, the policy

Affirmative action policies have been in place since 1957 (Rubio 144). Presidents Kennedy and Johnson signed executive orders in 1961 and 1964, respectively, requiring government agencies and their contractors to take 'affirmative' steps to ensure minority participation. Johnson's order was modified two years later to include women. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 outlawed discriminatory hiring, promotion, and retention practices in both the private and public sectors, and established the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

According to Newman, affirmative action is a “program designed to seek out members of minority groups for positions from which they had previously been excluded, thereby seeking to overcome some institutional racism” (Newman, 536). Affirmative action made its debut with a piece of legislature passed by President Lyndon Johnson in 1964 and continues to this day. However, the concept of affirmative action is a controversial issue that continues to be hotly debated.

Affirmative action was an outcome of the Civil Rights Movement during the 1960s. In the past, affirmative action has been used to improve opportunities with education and employment for excluded minority groups in American society President Kennedy was the first to use this term “in an Executive order that directed government contractors to take affirmative action to ensure that applicants are employed, and that employees are treated during employment, without regard to their race, creed, color, or national origin” (Affirmative Action, 2014).

The affirmative action case I chose for a case study involved the case of Abigail Fisher verses the University of Texas (UT), this suit was originally filed during the second quarter of 2008 after her application for admission into the college was rejected. Her suit alleged her admission was rejected on the grounds of her “race” which was a violation of the equal protection clause found in the Fourteenth Amendment. This case would go completely through the judicial system in the State of Texas, Fifth Circuit of Appeals and finally before the Supreme Court of the United States of America which issued a final ruling in June of 2016.

July 6, 1964: President Lyndon B. Johnson signs The Civil Rights Act, which prohibits racial discrimination and mentions the use of “affirmative action to overcome the effects of prior discrimination.”

The Supreme Court has set a precedent for approving race-based affirmative action policies in lawsuits. In most cases, the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment is cited as being violated. Historically, the Supreme Court has ruled in favor of the affirmative action programs at these colleges and

The history of how Affirmative Action came to is very simple. President John Kennedy issued executive order 10925 in 1961. This created the Committee on Equal Employment and ordered that federally funded projects to take “affirmative action”. This is

The Affirmative Action Act was created to ensure that minority groups and women were given the same opportunities in education and employment that were traditionally afforded to white males. According to the National Conferences of State Legislatures, affirmative action is, “…an outcome of the 1960’s Civil Rights Movement, intended to provide equal opportunities for members of minority groups and women in education and employment. In 1961, President Kennedy was the first to use the term "affirmative action" in an Executive Order that directed government contractors to take affirmative action to ensure that applicants are employed, and that employees are treated during employment, without regard to their race, creed, color, or national origin." The Executive Order also established the President’s Committee on Equal Employment Opportunity, now known as the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC)” (NCLS, 2014). Affirmative action was further reinforced in 1965 by President Lyndon Johnson when he signed an executive order requiring government contractors to increase the number of minorities that are offered employment.

1863 was an important year, marking the new start for slaves and African Americans in the United States of America. In that year, Abraham Lincoln had signed off the Emancipation Proclamation, which led to the end of slavery in America (Banfield 23). Even with the new Constitutions rules and laws of trying to end racial discrimination, there was still judgment being passed around towards the blacks. There was separate schools, buses, etc. for blacks and whites. These laws, called Jim Crow laws, stayed with the 14th Amendment for nearly 50 years (Banfield 29). When the president signed these laws off, he did not realize it would help only those enslaved in the South. Near mid 1866, the 14th Amendment in the United States Constitution listed rules

Affirmative Action is an outcome of the 1960’s Civil Rights Movement. Its purpose is to provide equal opportunities for members of minority groups and women in education and employment. It is not until 1961 did the term “affirmative action” was first used by President John F. Kennedy. He made it very clear in an Executive Order that directed government have to take “affirmative action to ensure that applicants are employed, and employees are treated during employment, without regard to their race, creed, color, or national origin.” Since a lot of cooperation still tends to hire white male, by enforcing affirmative action, the number of minority groups and women in the labor force will increase.Affirmative Action helps to eliminate the imbalance in the society and reform the American system. The US Department of Labor describes affirmative action as the banning of discrimination.

There are two recent lawsuits from 2003 that brought to the forefront college admissions using race; these include Grutter v. Bollinger and Gratz v. Bollinger (Bowman, 2013). Both cases involve the University of Michigan. In Grutter v. Bollinger, the court sided with the university stating that their admissions office can continue to use race-based initiatives in fostering an education benefit to the students (Bowman, 2013).

Griggs v. Duke Power Company was a classic employment discrimination case decided by the United States (US) Supreme Court in 1971 (Reese, n.d., Race). Not only did this case result in a standard for determining discrimination but also limited employers to use tests that are job related only and do not have a discriminatory impact on a protected class (Hays & Sowa, 2010, p.120). The two players in the case are Willie Griggs, an African-American laborer, and Duke Power Company, a large utility company. Prior to the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Duke Power Company had a long history of workforce segregation, only allowing African-Americans to work in the labor department which represented the lowest paid positions within the company (Case: Landmark: Griggs v. Duke Power Co., n.d.). After the Civil Right Act was passed, the company started requiring a high school diploma and a minimum score of a standard intelligence test for positions other than the Labor department.

     Martin and Tulgan (2002) claims, “ Affirmative action is the positive steps an employer takes to employ women and minorities in numbers equal to or greater than their availability and to proactively seek to employ those with disabilities and veterans” (p.89). Over the course of the years equal employment opportunity laws and regulations were put in place. The Equal Pay Act was established in 1963 to set pay based on the job category, and to prevent wage differential based on gender. In 1965 the Executive Order 11246 was passed to stop

Affirmative action was created on March 6, 1961 by president John F. Kennedy and has since then expanded into a heated debate. Affirmative action was first established as a result of the Civil Rights Movement to grant equal opportunities for minority groups in the United States. Affirmative action can be seen as a compensatory measure to a racially discriminated group in a cultures history. It is very easy for someone to become involved in a debate about affirmative action because we live in a society where racial discrimination is seen often. Racial injustice can be seen first hand or on television with programs such as the news that heavily publicize racial inequality events.