| Venue: | SCOTUS |
| Facts: | Bakke gets rejected by med school, and suspects that it might have been because his seat went to someone else because he's white. There's a special admissions program that handles anyone who checks a non-white box on the application form. |
| Posture: | District court finds the program unlawful and enjoins the consideration of race in admissions. |
| Issue: | Should Bakke get to go to school? Can the school consider race? |
| Holding: | Yes and yes. |
| Rule: | A facial intent to discriminate is bad, but a good faith effort to balance admissions in which race is one factor would be OK. |
| Reasoning: | Racial and ethnic distinctions are inherently suspect. If both
are not accorded the same protection, then it's not equal.
There's no principled basis for deciding which groups deserve
hightened judicial solicitude. And preferential treatment
may only reinforce stereotypes.
Ethnic diversity is a factor that a university may properly consider,though. We like what Harvard is doing. |
| Dicta: | Many pithy sayings. |