Bakke decision

Bakke decision
an important ruling made by the US Supreme Court in 1978. A white man called Allan Bakke claimed that he had been illegally refused a job because of his colour. The Court decided that the employers had acted illegally in not offering him the job, but that employers did have a right to consider somebody’s race when deciding whether to give them a job.

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▪ law case
formally  Regents of the University of California v. Bakke 

      ruling in which, on June 28, 1978, the U.S. Supreme Court (Supreme Court of the United States) declared affirmative action constitutional but invalidated the use of racial quotas. The medical school at the University of California, Davis, as part of the university's affirmative action program, had reserved 16 percent of its admission places for minority applicants. Allan Bakke, a white California man who had twice unsuccessfully applied for admission to the medical school, filed suit against the university. Citing evidence that his grades and test scores surpassed those of many minority students who had been accepted for admission, Bakke charged that he had suffered unfair “reverse discrimination” on the basis of race, which he argued was contrary to the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the equal protection clause of the U.S. Constitution's Fourteenth Amendment. The Supreme Court, in a highly fractured ruling (six separate opinions were issued), agreed that the university's use of strict racial quotas was unconstitutional and ordered that the medical school admit Bakke, but it also contended that race could be used as one criterion in the admissions decisions of institutions of higher education. Although the ruling legalized the use of affirmative action, in subsequent decisions during the next several decades the court limited the scope of such programs, and several U.S. states prohibited affirmative action programs based on race.

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Universalium. 2010.

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  • Bakke decision — noun a ruling by the Supreme Court on affirmative action; the Court ruled in 1978 that medical schools are entitled to consider race as a factor in their admission policy • Topics: ↑law, ↑jurisprudence • Instance Hypernyms: ↑opinion, ↑ruling * *… …   Useful english dictionary

  • Bakke decision, the — Bak|ke de|ci|sion, the [ baki dı,sıʒn ] a U.S. Supreme Court decision that makes it illegal for a university to refuse to accept a good student simply because it would prefer to accept a student from a race with fewer students in the school …   Usage of the words and phrases in modern English

  • Bakke, Norway — Bakke is a former municipality in Vest Agder county, Norway.The parish of Bakke was split in three formannskapsdistrikt January 1 1838: Vestre Bakke , Østre Bakke and Gyland. (This because the main parish Bakke was divided by the border between… …   Wikipedia

  • Bakke Graduate University — [1] (BGU) is a US accredited graduate school for leaders who are seeking to facilitate positive social transformation of urban areas. BGU includes a school of Christian theology for church leaders; a school of urban studies for non profit (NGO… …   Wikipedia

  • Regents of the University of California v. Bakke — SCOTUSCase Litigants=Regents of the University of California v. Bakke ArgueDate=October 8 ArgueYear=1977 DecideDate=June 28 DecideYear=1978 FullName=Regents of the University of California v. Allan Bakke USVol=438 USPage=265 Citation=98 S. Ct.… …   Wikipedia

  • Regents of the University of California v. Bakke — (1978) The U.S. Supreme Court s first major decision on affirmative action. The Court ruled that the University of California could consider race as part of a competitive admissions process as long as it did not use quotas. Full text: Regents of… …   Law dictionary

  • Regents of the University of California v. Bakke — (1978) Decision of the Supreme Court of the United States that ruled unconstitutional the use of fixed quotas for minority applicants at professional schools. At issue was a state medical school s affirmative action program that, because it… …   Universalium

  • Grutter v. Bollinger — SCOTUSCase Litigants= Grutter v. Bollinger ArgueDate=April 1 ArgueYear=2003 DecideDate=June 23 DecideYear=2003 FullName=Barbara Grutter, Petitioner v. Lee Bollinger, et al. Citation=123 S.Ct. 2325, 156 L.Ed.2d 304, 71 USLW 4498, 91 Fair Empl.Prac …   Wikipedia

  • East Coast Asian American Student Union — Infobox Organization name = East Coast Asian American Student Union image border = size = caption = abbreviation = ECAASU motto = formation = 1977 (ICLC) 1978 (ECASU) 2005 (ECAASU) 2008 (ECAASU, Inc.) type = Independent intercollegiate student… …   Wikipedia

  • affirmative action — affirmative action, adj. the encouragement of increased representation of women and minority group members, esp. in employment. [1960 65] * * * In the U.S., the effort to improve the employment and educational opportunities of women and members… …   Universalium

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