Affirmative Action
Affirmative action is best defined as which of the following?
A policy benefiting those who tend to suffer from discrimination or are members of a historically disadvantaged group (The definition of affirmative action covers government programs and policies designed to benefit members of groups historically subject to discrimination.)
"Universities cannot establish quotas for members of certain racial or ethnic groups or put them on separate admissions tracks. The Law School's admissions program . . . satisfies these requirements. Moreover, the program is flexible enough to ensure that each applicant is evaluated as an individual and not in a way that makes race or ethnicity the defining feature of the application. The Law School engages in a highly individualized, holistic review of each applicant's file, giving serious consideration to all the ways an applicant might contribute to a diverse educational environment." Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, writing for the Court in Grutter v. Bollinger (2003) Which of the following governmental policies would the author most likely support?
A state university admissions program that takes race into account as part of an individual's overall record (Justice O'Connor supports a program that evaluates applicants as individuals, taking race into account without making it "the defining feature" of an applicant.)
Which of the following scenarios would be considered a violation of the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment?
A university establishes race-based quotas in their admission policy (The Court has established in several cases that race-based quotas violate the equal protection clause because it disadvantages students of a particular race.)
"The Constitution instructs all who act for the government that they may not 'deny to any person . . . the equal protection of the laws.' In implementing this equality instruction, as I see it, government decisionmakers may properly distinguish between policies of exclusion and inclusion. Actions designed to burden groups long denied full citizenship stature are not sensibly ranked with measures taken to hasten the day when entrenched discrimination and its after effects have been extirpated." Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, dissenting opinion in Gratz v. Bollinger (2003) Based on the text, which of the following statements would the author most likely agree wit
Colleges and universities should be allowed to use race as a factor in admissions (Associate Justice Ginsburg implies that affirmative action ("measures taken to hasten the day when entrenched discrimination and its after effects have been extirpated") does not represent a denial of equal protection, and therefore is constitutional.)
"As this Court's cases have made clear, however, the compelling interest that justifies consideration of race in college admissions is not an interest in enrolling a certain number of minority students. Rather, a university may institute a race-conscious admissions program as a means of obtaining 'the educational benefits that flow from student body diversity'. . . . "Increasing minority enrollment may be instrumental to these educational benefits, but it is not, as petitioner seems to suggest, a goal that can or should be reduced to pure numbers. " Associate Justice Anthony Kennedy, opinion of the court in Fisher v. University of Texas (2013) Based on the text, which of the following statements would the author most likely agree with?
Colleges and universities should be allowed to use race as a factor in admissions (In the excerpt above, Associate Justice Kennedy says that using race as a factor in admissions to achieve a diverse student body is justified.)
"The Constitution abhors classifications based on race, not only because those classifications can harm favored races or are based on illegitimate motives, but also because every time the government places citizens on racial registers and makes race relevant to the provision of burdens or benefits, it demeans us all. . . . Undoubtedly there are other ways to 'better' the education of law students aside from ensuring that the student body contains a 'critical mass' of underrepresented minority students. Associate Justice Clarence Thomas, dissenting opinion in Grutter v. Bollinger (2003) Based on the text, which of the following statements would the author most likely agree with?
Colleges and universities should be forbidden from taking race into consideration (In the text above, Associate Justice Thomas argues that race-based classifications are unconstitutional: "[t]he Constitution abhors classifications based on race.")
Examine the table and answer the question below. The data displayed in the table above best supports which of the following statements?
Respondents of all races were less likely to support programs giving special preferences to black candidates than programs aimed to help them more generally (Among all three racial groups surveyed, respondents expressed more support for general programs helping black candidates than programs giving special preferences to black candidates.)
"Race-based action necessary to further a compelling governmental interest does not violate the Equal Protection Clause so long as it is narrowly tailored to further that interest. Context matters when reviewing such action. Not every decision influenced by race is equally objectionable, and strict scrutiny is designed to provide a framework for carefully examining the importance and the sincerity of the government's reasons for using race in a particular context." -Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, writing for the Court in Grutter v. Bollinger (2003) Which of the following statements best summarizes the author's argument?
The Constitution does not always forbid decisions based on race (Justice O'Connor writes that government actions based on race do not necessarily violate the Equal Protection Clause.)
"The Constitution abhors classifications based on race, not only because those classifications can harm favored races or are based on illegitimate motives, but also because every time the government places citizens on racial registers and makes race relevant to the provision of burdens or benefits, it demeans us all. . . . Undoubtedly there are other ways to 'better' the education of law students aside from ensuring that the student body contains a 'critical mass' of underrepresented minority students."' Associate Justice Clarence Thomas, dissenting opinion in Grutter v. Bollinger (2003) Which of the following statements is most consistent with the author's argument in this passage?
The Constitution is colorblind and any racial classifications, even when used to help minorities, are harmful to society (Associate Justice Thomas is arguing that the Constitution forbids all racial classifications, even when they are used to help minorities. He argues that racial classifications favors some races over others.)
"The Constitution instructs all who act for the government that they may not 'deny to any person . . . the equal protection of the laws.' In implementing this equality instruction, as I see it, government decisionmakers may properly distinguish between policies of exclusion and inclusion. Actions designed to burden groups long denied full citizenship stature are not sensibly ranked with measures taken to hasten the day when entrenched discrimination and its after effects have been extirpated." Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, dissenting opinion in Gratz v. Bollinger (2003) Which of the following statements is most consistent with the author's argument in this passage?
The Constitution only forbids racial classifications when they are designed to harm minorities, not help them (Associate Justice Ginsburg is arguing that the government can "distinguish between policies of exclusion and inclusion." This means that the government should not uphold policies that negatively affect people of color, but should create policies that help minority groups gain equality over time.)
"As this Court's cases have made clear, however, the compelling interest that justifies consideration of race in college admissions is not an interest in enrolling a certain number of minority students. Rather, a university may institute a race-conscious admissions program as a means of obtaining 'the educational benefits that flow from student body diversity'. . . . "Increasing minority enrollment may be instrumental to these educational benefits, but it is not, as petitioner seems to suggest, a goal that can or should be reduced to pure numbers." Associate Justice Anthony Kennedy, opinion of the court in Fisher v. University of Texas (2013) Which of the following statements is most consistent with the author's argument in this passage?
The Constitution only forbids racial classifications when they are designed to harm minorities, not help them (In the excerpt above, Associate Justice Kennedy is saying that race is used as a factor at only one stage of the entire admissions process. In Fisher, the Court ruled in favor of the University of Texas, maintaining that admissions programs can use race as a factor in admissions to meet an educational goal of having a diverse student body.)
Examine the table and answer the question below. In the public opinion poll described in the table above, two groups of approximately 1500 people were asked if they favored or opposed the following statements: Statement A: To overcome past discrimination, do you favor affirmative action programs to help blacks get better jobs/education? Result: 60% of respondents said they favored these programs. Statement B: To overcome past discrimination, do you favor affirmative action programs which give special preferences to qualified blacks in hiring/education? Result: 46% of respondents said they favored these programs. Which of the following most likely accounts for the different results?
The questions contained a difference in wording (Although respondents favored affirmative action in general, they did not respond as positively to giving special preferences to minority applicants.)
