Labor & Employment Law

Michigan federal court issues important reverse affirmative action decision upholding state constitutional amendment banning affirmative action

By Harvey Randall, Esq.

Michigan federal court issues important reverse affirmative action decision upholding state constitutional amendment banning affirmative action

Source: Adjunct Law Prof Blog; http://lawprofessors.typepad.com/adjunctprofs/
Reproduced with permission. Copyright © 2008, Mitchell H. Rubinstein, Esq., Adjunct Professor of Law, St. Johns Law School and New York Law School, All rights reserved.

Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action v. Regents of Univ. of Michigan, ___F.Supp. 2d ___(E.D. Mich. 2008), is an important affirmative action decision. In a sense it is a reverse affirmative action case. The court holds that a state constitutional amendment banning affirmative action in the operation of public employment, public education or public contracting does not violate the equal protection clause of the U.S. Constitution. The claim was that this constitutional amendment placed an undue political burden on minority groups by requiring them to alter policy through the statewide ballot process rather than by petitioning the university.

While I am sure that the plaintiffs will appeal, look for the circuit to uphold this decision.

Mitchell H. Rubinstein

Full post as published by New York Public Personnel Law on May 05, 2008 (boomark / email).