The decision sent no clear signal about how the court will dispose of pending cases that raise issues related to those in the Bakke case. Saxon called the decision "an overall victory for the university's affirmative action plans." In Berkeley, University of California President David S. Jess Jackson, told ABC, "We have lost a major legal decision. Rauh Jr., vice president of Americans for Democratic Action, perceived "a stunning blow" to racists, a black leader, the Rev. Similarly, Jack Greenberg, director counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, said that many types of remedial plans are not "scure," but expressed fears that the multiple opinions will set off new legislative and court struggles. The American Civil Liberties Union estimated that the ruling will uphold "90 percent or more of existing affirmative action programs." ACLU chairman Norman Dorsen said, however, that he was fearful" that it will "sap the will" of officials responsible for intergrating universities or lead them to dismantle plans the court would affirm. Bell, pointing out that the court had adopted the basic position urged by the government to preserve affirmative action programs in which race is a factor, said at the White House that the decision was "very helpful" and that it pleased him. "Now," he said, "we have this court again stepping in, this time to stop affirmative action programs of the type used by the University of California."īut Attorney General Griffin B. After recalling how court decisions in 18 had "Strangled Congress' efforts to use its power to promote racial equality," he cited the progress begun with the school desegregation decision of 1954. Starting with Powell, all of the justices but White who wrote opinions announced them in whole or in part from th bench, a process that took about an hour.įew reactions to the decision echoed the gloomy tones sounded by Justice Marshall. Bakke "will be disposed of" with the judgement and without a majority. Burger disclosed that the case of the Regents of the University of California vs. ![]() The text of all of the decisions ran a total of 154 pages.Īfter building suspense in the hushed courtroom by announcing decisions in two lesser cases, Chief Justice Warren E. Blackmun, each wrote a supplemental opinion. Three of Brennan's allies, Justices Byron R. There were three major opinions: Powell's announcing the judgement of the court's and Brennan's and Stevens', each concurring in part and dissenting in part to the judgement. But he also agreed with the other four justices, led by John Paul Stevens, that the medical school must admit Bakke. Brennan Jr., that race can be considered. ![]() Powell agreed with four of his colleagues, spoken for by Justice William J. Powell resolved the most crucial stalemates with a centrist vote, ending fears both of a catastrophic end to affirmative action and of a validation of extreme "reverse discrimination." ![]() said in announcing the judgement of the court. "Preferring members of any one group for no reason other than race or ethnic origin is discrimination for its own sake," Justice Lewis F. Specifically, the court found invalid the plan at the University of California Medical School at Davis that established a rigid quota that reserved 16 to 100 places in each year's class mainly for blacks, Hispanics and Asian-Americans.īakke, a 38-year-old white engineer, had claimed that the quota system denied him entrance to the medical school even though his admission test scores were higher than many of those admitted under the minority program. In its historic 5 to 4 decision, which gave little comfort to the political extremes in the debate over affirmative action programs, the court struck down remedial plans setting up quotas based solely on race or ethnic origins without proof of constitutional or statutory violations. The Supreme Court yesterday upheld the principle of affirmative action to overcome past discrimination but at the same time ordered the University of California to admit Allan P.
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