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Essay on Affirmative Action

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Affirmative Action is any effort taken to expand opportunity for women or racial, ethnic and national origin minorities by using membership in those groups that have been subject to discrimination as a consideration. The Fourteenth Amendment states that no person in the United States shall, on the ground of race, color, or national origin, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance. As a result, Affirmative action is not consistent with the Fourteenth Amendment. In this essay, I will first discuss the violation of Affirmative Action against the Fourteenth Amendment. Second, how Affirmative Action helps one group of …show more content…

In the case of Plessy v. Ferguson, a Louisiana statute, passed in 1890, made it legal for railway companies carrying passengers in the state to “provide equal but separate accommodations for the white and colored races.” Homer Plessy, a man of mixed ancestry, refused to surrender his seat in a white compartment of a railway car and was subsequently arrested for violation of the statute. What happened to equal protection? When race is taken into account, equal protection is disclaimed. What if race is not taken into account then Affirmative Action is the problem.
With the Affirmative Action violating the Fourteenth Amendment, the Medical School of University of California at Davis believes that the special admissions program does not violate any law. Having the program was to increase the population of minorities in the Medical School. The reason the University is doing this is because of strict scrutiny (to examine extremely closely or strictly whether there is a compelling state interest for treating people differently). In this case, strict scrutiny has to do with past discrimination and to undo the wrong doing from the past. The special admissions programs purports to serve the purpose of: (i) reducing the historic deficit of traditionally disfavored minorities in medical schools and in the medical profession; (ii) countering the effects

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