Regents of the University of California v. Bakke

The Facts:

The University of California, Davis School of Medicine had a 16% minority quota while accepting applicants. It accepted 100 students 16 of whom were not of white ethnicity by evaluating their scores and GPA's on a different scale than the white applicants. In 1973 and 1974 Allan Bakke a 32 year old white male applied twice to the University of California, Davis School of Medicine. He was rejected both times although his grade point average was higher than a number of minority applicants who had been accepted.

The Question:

Allan Bakke sued the University of California in a state court, claiming that the medical school's admissions process violated the Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Fourteenth Amendment's Equal Protection Clause.

The Path:

In 1974, Bakke sued the university in the Superior Court of California on the grounds that his rights had been infringed upon. The California lower court ruled that the school's admission program was in violation of the state and federal constitutions and Title VI. Unfortunately, it would not order the university to admit Bakke to the medical school because Bakke had not proven that he would have been accepted had there been no special minority program. Bakke then appealed to the California Supreme Court, which ruled that it was necessary for the university, not Bakke, to prove that he would not have been admitted if the special program had not existed. The school was unable to to fulfill the requirement and the court ordered the university to admit Bakke. The university then appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court and it agreed to review the case.

The Court:

In 1978 in the Supreme Court, 4 justices chose to evaluate the issue of Title VI and agreed with Bakke (including his admission to the medical school) because the quota in the university's admission plan had clearly excluded Bakke on the basis of his race. 4 other justices evaluated the larger constitutional issue of the Equal Protection Clause and agreed with the Davis Medical School because its intent was not to exclude Bakke but only to include individuals of other races for government reasons. The final vote was cast by Lewis F. Powell, Jr. who agreed with both.

The Outcome:

In the end Powell decided that the university had violated the simple meaning of the Civil Rights Act, which forbids discrimination based on race, and ordered Bakke to be admitted to the Davis Medical School. But Powell also decided that the university was able to make "race-conscious" decisions in selecting its applicants in order to achieve the benefits of a "diverse student body."

Evaluation:

I agree with Powell since Bakke had better test scores (scored within the top 3%) and a GPA that was higher than the minority applicants who were accepted. But I also agree that the University should be able to accept applicants while keeping race factors in mind in order to stay within government limits.