Affirmative Action Education

Court: Michigan voters can't ban affirmative action

The 2-to-1 ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit was based on the idea that the referendum that voters approved had the effect of denying political rights to minority citizens in Michigan. State officials immediately announced an appeal, which will have the effect of keeping the Michigan ban on consideration of race in place for now.

The challenge to the Michigan referendum was brought by the Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action, Integration and Immigrant Rights and Fight for Equality By Any Means Necessary (known as BAMN) and by 59 black, Latino and Native American students and prospective students of Michigan's public universities. BAMN issued a statement calling the ruling "a great victory for students," and pledging to try to use it to challenge other state bans on the consideration of race in admissions.

Arizona, California, Nebraska and Washington State have bans that are nearly identical to Michigan's. Until Friday, federal courts had declined to throw out the measures. Critics of affirmative action expressed confidence that the ruling would not stand (and, privately, some lawyers sympathetic to affirmative action shared that skepticism).The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in 1997 rejected a challenge to California's ban.

STORY: Key win for affirmative action STORY: The power of race

Political rights

Many of the landmark decisions about affirmative action in higher education are based on such issues as the value of diversity in the classroom, the nature of discrimination and disadvantage among those who might not gain admission to leading colleges and universities without the consideration of race, and the impact on white or Asian students of policies to consider race.

Friday's ruling, in contrast, is based on the impact of Michigan's 2006 referendum on minority citizens and their right to influence state policy (in this case, on public university admissions). Fifty-eight percent of Michigan voters backed the 2006 measure, but exit polls suggested that only 14 percent of black voters did so.

The appeals court found that the referendum "unconstitutionally alters Michigan's political structure by impermissibly burdening racial minorities." The court cited two U.S. Supreme Court rulings overturning referendums that dealt with racial issues. In one case, the citizens of Akron, Ohio, passed a measure requiring a referendum to change fair housing laws (taking away that power from the City Council). In another case, the Supreme Court rejected a state referendum in Washington State that overturned busing programs adopted by the Seattle public schools to promote integration.

Appeals Court Strikes Down Mich. Affirmative Action Ban ...

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A divided federal appeals court on Friday struck down Michigan's controversial ban on consideration of race and gender in college admissions.

The 2-1 panel at the 6th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals concluded the voter-approved ban on "preferential treatment" at state colleges and universities was unconstitutional, and "alters Michigan's political structure by impermissibly burdening racial minorities."

The issue is likely to renew the national, political and legal debate over affirmative action, which the Supreme Court could be poised to resolve in the coming months.

The affirmative action ban was passed five years ago in a referendum and was added to the state's constitution, barring publicly funded centers of higher education from granting "preferential treatment to any individual or group on the basis of race, sex, color, ethnicity, or national origin." That prompted a series of lawsuits and appeals from various groups.

"The university is reviewing the possible implications of the court's decision, and recognizes that there may be further legal steps as well," Kelly Cunningham, a spokeswoman for the University of Michigan, said Friday. She would not speculate how or when the school would need to alter its policies in response to the court's ruling.

A state appeal to the Supreme Court is almost certain, setting up a potentially heated election-year debate in 2012 over whether race and gender preferences are still a socially necessary step.

The issue comes after the justices in 2003 ruled that while Michigan universities could use race as a factor in choosing which students to admit, they could not make race the determining factor in deciding whether applicants are accepted.

The appeals court has now said the Michigan law violated the Constitution's equal protection laws.

"Because less onerous avenues to effect political change remain open to those advocating consideration of non-racial factors in admissions decisions, Michigan cannot force those advocating for consideration of racial factors to go down a more arduous road than others without violating the Fourteenth Amendment," said Judges R. Guy Cole and Martha Daughtrey, both named to the bench by former President Bill Clinton.

In dissent, Judge Julia Smith Gibbons said voters had a right to pass this kind of referendum, even though school officials ultimately make the individual admissions decisions.

Affirmative action in education : the trust and honesty perspective by Stylianos-Ioannis G Koutnatzis

Should a white majority sign off on an affirmative action policy? What do you think?

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