Supreme Court and Affirmative Action

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Affirmative action has been a widely debated topic for some time. It has been used as a tool to help stop discrimination in many areas such as the workplace, education, and in government; however, some believe that the use of affirmative action is in itself, discriminatory. “Schuette v. The Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action…” is a current United States Supreme Court case that is dealing with the matter. The case has been in the making for over eight years, originating from the state of Michigan in 2006 from the introduction of Proposition 2. To best understand the entirety of the case, one must take a look into the legal history of the case, starting back to just before the introduction of Proposition 2.
In order to gain an understanding of the creation and implementation of Proposition 2, one must take into account two important cases prior to the proposal. The first case, Grutter v. Bollinger, deals with a white applicant who was rejected admission to the University of Michigan’s Law School. As clarified by Rose, Grutter was a student who had been waitlisted and inevitably denied admission to the university. She sued on the grounds that the Law School admission process violated the Fourteenth Amendment by using race as a factor; however, the Court held that in fact, the Law School did not violate any Amendment (Rose3). The next case, Gratz v. Bollinger, followed the same lines only dealing with University admissions as opposed to the Law School admission process. Rose states, “…The Court rejected the University's admissions practices because the University automatically awarded points to minority applicants based solely on their race” (Rose4). In other words, the University cannot simply award points based on race when it i...

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Works Cited

Walsh, Mark. "High Court To Tackle Race Case." Education Week 33.6 (2013): 1-23. MasterFILE Elite. Web. 16 Apr. 2014.

Bensur, Gabriella, and Jennifer Brokamp. "Schuette v. Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action." LII / Legal Information Institute. Cornell University Law School, n.d. Web. 16 Apr. 2014. .

Bernstein, David E. "Supreme Court Review-Preview: Schuette V. Coalition To Defend Affirmative Action And The Failed Attempt To Square A Circle." NYU Journal Of Law & Liberty 8.(2013): 210. LexisNexis Academic: Law Reviews. Web. 16 Apr. 2014.

Rose, Monica L. "Proposal 2 And The Ban On Affirmative Action: An Uncertain Future For The University Of Michigan In Its Quest For Diversity." The Boston University Public Interest Law Journal 17.(2008): 309. LexisNexis Academic: Law Reviews. Web. 16 Apr. 2014.

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