some people may say, is this question worth mentioning? Naturally, whites discriminate against blacks and other ethnic minorities. However, many white Americans believe that according to the AffirmativeAction Act promulgated by the US government, it is actually white people who suffer from racial discrimination in American society today, not blacks and other ethnic minorities. This complex problem involving "ReverseDescrimination" is precisely the case of the Board of Directors of the University of California v. Allen? The origin of Becky's case.
(1) A brilliant white student who has failed repeatedly
Allen? Alanbakke was born in Florida in 1941. His father was an immigrant from northern Europe and Norway and worked as a porter in the post office. Allen? Becky was smart and eager to learn since she was a child, and her grades were outstanding. She once entered the final of the honorary scholarship competition for middle school students in the United States. In 1959, he was admitted to the University of Minnesota, majoring in mechanical engineering. During his college years, his GPA was 3.51.
after graduating from college, Allen? Becky joined the US Marine Corps in 1963 and participated in the war of aggression against Vietnam. Because of his alertness and bravery in the battlefield under heavy gunfire, he was promoted to several ranks in four years of military career and was promoted to captain officer. During the Vietnam War, Allen? Becky's ambition to be a doctor took shape.
Allen in 1967? After retiring, Becky worked as an engineer in an advanced research center of NASA near Stanford University in California. During the work in the center, funded by NASA, Allen? Becky was admitted to Stanford University for further study and got a master's degree in engineering. However, with the growth of age, Allen? Becky gradually realized that her greatest wish in this life was to become a doctor and go to the bloody battlefield to save her dying comrades. Therefore, he began to study pre-medical courses after work, and began to review and prepare for the Medical College Entrance Examination (MCAT).
Everyone knows that doctors and lawyers in America are not so easy to be. First of all, the tuition fees of famous medical schools and law schools are extremely expensive. Because students earn more after graduation, medical schools and law schools basically do not provide scholarships. Secondly, famous medical schools and law schools have extremely low admission rates and fierce competition, and the elimination rate of candidates and the cruelty of competition have surpassed the college entrance examination in Chinese mainland to some extent. Take the Medical College of the University of California, Davis as an example. In 1973, the college only admitted 1 students, but the total number of candidates was as high as 2,464.
but Allen? Becky just chose the Medical College of the University of California as one of the key institutions to apply for the exam. The reason can be explained by California residents' witticisms about the state university:
"If you are good at reading, your father will go to Stanford University while taking advantage of the money;
If you are good at reading, your father will go to the University of California without taking advantage of money.
If you can't study, your father will study at the University of Southern California while taking advantage of the money;
If you can't study, your father will go to a community college without taking advantage of money. "
The secret is that although Berkeley, Los Angeles, San Diego and Davis, which are managed by the board of directors of the University of California, are among the famous universities in the United States, unlike Harvard, Yale and Stanford, all the branches of the University of California are public universities. Because public universities have government subsidies and subsidies, the tuition fees are much cheaper than those of private famous universities. Besides, like Allen? Residents like Becky who have lived in California for more than two years and paid state taxes according to law will also enjoy the special treatment of greatly reducing tuition fees for students in this state.
after finishing the pre-medical course with honors, Allen? Becky got good grades in the medical college entrance examination again. In the scientific knowledge part of the exam, his correct rate is 97%; In the part of language ability, the correct rate is 96%; In mathematics, the correct rate is 94%. This achievement is excellent.
at the end of 1972, Allen? Becky formally applied for admission in 1973 to the Medical College of the University of California, Davis. Unexpectedly, the University of California gave Allen, who was determined to win? Becky was shut out.
as usual, Allen? Becky should be a very competitive student with GPA and MCAT scores, master's degree from Stanford University and comprehensive quality. Allen? At first, Becky thought that the reason why she lost her name in Sun Shan might be that she was over 3 years old. But, Allen? Becky later went from Peter, assistant to the student affairs office at Davis. Stoant found out an inside story that surprised him. It turns out that among the 1 admission places in medical school that year, 16 places were specially allocated to black and other minority students. What's even more surprising is that among the 16 ethnic minority students admitted, the GPA and MCAT scores of most of them are far below their own.
Allen? Becky was very angry when she learned about the admission quota and different admission standards. He put pen to paper and wrote a letter of complaint with quite a policy level to the admission office of Davis University. The letter wrote: "In order to meet the requirements of future medical and health undertakings, the medical profession needs the most capable and dedicated talents. I realize that the quota for admission of ethnic minorities is set to compensate for the evil consequences of racial discrimination in the past. However, this measure of caring for ethnic minorities has actually created new racial prejudice. This is not a just solution. "
after a complaint, Allen in late 1973? Becky applied to the Medical College of the University of California, Davis for admission in 1974. However, Allen? Becky's reply is still a bitter medicine that will not be accepted.
I have done everything I need to do, but I still can't get into medical school because my skin color is not dark enough. Allen, who grew up in a society that preached "white superiority"? Becky, this is the first time in my life that I have encountered such a strange thing as "reversing black and white". China people may think of beating that son of a bitch when they encounter grievances. When Americans encounter injustice, their first thought is to sue that son of a bitch. Allen? Becky is no exception, of course. He sued the University of California in court with a piece of paper, accusing the University of California of engaging in reverse racial discrimination, which violated the clause on equal protection in the 14th Amendment to the US Constitution
(2) The Supreme Court in a dilemma
In an American society that has always advertised equality and fair competition for all, why did the School of Medicine of the University of California, Davis reserve 16 places for ethnic minority applicants? It's a long story, this special care measure is actually directly related to the "affirmative action" bill promulgated by the US government.
The term "affirmative action" originated from Executive Order 1925 signed by Democratic President Kennedy in 1961. This executive order requires government contractors to take affirmative action to provide more employment opportunities for ethnic minorities. After President Johnson took office, the federal government promulgated a series of "affirmative action" bills with a wider scope, also known as the Equal Rights Act. In short, "affirmative action" is actually an equal rights measure developed on the basis of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, aiming at helping ethnic minorities and women who have been discriminated against for a long time in American history to change their inferior positions in politics, economy, education and society more quickly. Specifically, when studying, getting employment, awarding scholarships, accepting government loans and distributing government contracts, blacks, Indians, Hispanics and Asians and women have the right to be given priority in admission, employment or receiving loans and government contracts under the condition that their competitiveness and qualifications are basically the same or similar.
After President Nixon, a conservative Republican Party, came to power, it was by going up one flight of stairs who promoted the "affirmative action" bill. Schultz, who later served as Secretary of State in the Reagan administration, was the Labor Minister in the Nixon administration. During his tenure as Labor Minister, Schultz created a hard quota system that caused great controversy. The Federal Ministry of Labor stipulates that public universities must recruit a certain proportion of minority and female students, government departments must employ a certain proportion of minority and female staff, and a certain proportion of government business or engineering contracts should give priority to minority and female bidders. In addition, all private enterprises that receive government funding and sign business or engineering contracts with the government must submit a "affirmative action" plan, indicating how long the enterprise intends to make minority and female employees reach a certain proportion, otherwise the contract will be out of the question. In the United States, a capitalist country with private enterprises as the main body, this is the first time that the federal government has intervened in the internal operations of private enterprises on a large scale and publicly restricted the free rights of private enterprises to hire employees. The federal government has trillions of dollars in commercial and engineering contracts and is the largest customer of private enterprises. Therefore, private enterprises are only obedient and have no temper at all.
In the 196s, when the civil rights movement was huge, the "affirmative action" bill received a positive response from public institutions of higher learning in the United States. American university campuses have always been the base camp of liberalization and radicalization, and the University of California was one of the most violent universities in the United States in the movement against the Vietnam War and for equal rights and interests in the 196s. Under this background, in order to correct the harm caused by racial discrimination and unfair treatment to ethnic minorities, increase the diversity of medical students, and set an example for ethnic minorities to study hard and strive for success, the Medical College of Davis has specially set up a preferential and caring admission quota system for ethnic minority applicants, which led to the Allen? Becky's lawsuit.
in 1975, the district court against Allen? In the Becky case, the judge declared that the admission quota system established by the University of California was illegal, but did not rule that the medical school of Davis must admit the prickly Allen? Becky. As a result, both parties were dissatisfied and continued to appeal to the California Supreme Court. In 1976, the California Supreme Court ruled against the University of California. However, the board of directors of the University of California refused to accept it and hired Cox, a professor at Harvard University who had served as a special prosecutor in the Watergate investigation, as a lawyer. In 1978, the lawsuit was brought to the Federal Supreme Court.
Allen? Becky's case, in fact, is a very difficult problem for the US Supreme Court. The reason is very simple. The issue involved in this lawsuit related to "affirmative action" is not a simple legal issue, but a highly complicated political issue. Racial issues have always been a time bomb in American politics. If you are not careful, it will explode in the social center, causing unprecedented social unrest. In China, all kinds of legal issues are usually concentrated in political issues, but in the United States, as the French political scientist Tocqueville said a hundred years ago, all kinds of political issues are usually concentrated in legal proceedings. The unique phenomenon of legalization of political issues in American society has made the justices of the Supreme Court headache.
In the constitutional history of the United States, there was a precedent that the Supreme Court tried to solve political problems by legal means, but the result was social unrest. Before the Civil War, the Supreme Court ruled in Scott v. Sanford in 1857 (Scottv. Sandford) made a judgment in favor of southern slavery, so that the Missouri compromise bill passed by Congress to limit the expansion of southern slavery was cancelled because it was unconstitutional. Although from a purely legal point of view, the Supreme Court's judgment on Scott's case is understandable, from a political point of view, this judgment has intensified the already sharply opposed dispute between the North and the South, blocked the way to solve the problem of slavery in the South by peaceful means, strengthened the determination of southern States to defend slavery in accordance with constitutional conventions, and put the North and President Lincoln in a passive position of "breaking the law and discipline", which played a bad role in fueling the outbreak of the Civil War and plunged the United States into an inevitable North-South war. Scott's case has always been regarded by later generations as the worst case in the history of the Supreme Court.
As a lesson from the past, the Supreme Court has to be careful when trying such "political cases", and it is like walking on thin ice. In Allen? Before Becky's case, a man named Marco? As early as 1971, MarcoDefunis's white students had challenged affirmative action. The white student scored much higher on the LSAT than most black students who have been admitted to the Law School of Washington University, but he was not admitted. In a rage, he sued the University of Washington in the district court. The district court ruled against the University of Washington in 1971, Marco? Devnis then entered law school. However, the University of Washington refused to accept the verdict and continued to appeal. In February 1974, the lawsuit was brought to the Supreme Court.
However, to people's surprise, the crafty Supreme Court justices chose Marco? Devnis will graduate from law school in May of that year, and it is no longer of any great legal significance to hear this case, so he refused to appeal to Defunisv. Odegaard) made a judgment. In fact, the justices found an excuse to deliberately avoid this political problem, which greatly disappointed the two factions who strongly supported and strongly opposed the "affirmative action" policy. However, you can't hide from the first day. After a few years, Allen? The Becky case came to the door again, forcing the Supreme Court, which was in a dilemma, to give a clear statement. The U.S. ruling and opposition parties will wait and see how the Supreme Court decides the case.
In June, 1978, the Supreme Court ruled against Allen by five votes to four votes. The Becky case made a very rare DoubleDecision in the history of American constitutionalism. The judgment presided over by Justice Powell consists of two parts. The first part ruled that the admission quota system established by the University of California violated the civil rights law, and the University of California Medical School must admit Allen? Becky; The second part judges that the University of California has the right to implement some policies to diversify the sources of students, and race can be considered as a factor when enrolling new students. In this way, on the one hand, the Supreme Court ruled that the quota set by the University of California in accordance with the "affirmative action" policy was illegal, on the other hand, it stipulated that race could be a factor in the application for further studies, and in essence, it affirmed the "affirmative action" policy of the federal government. This extremely smooth double judgment has dealt a blow to both the prosecution and the prosecution, making the two factions who support and oppose affirmative action confused and at a loss. Although the Supreme Court's decision is a legal decision, careful consideration of the political consequences obviously has a very important impact on the judges' decisions.
(3) From institutional discrimination to "affirmative action"
It is no accident that the President of the United States and the federal government issued a series of special policies and bills to take care of blacks and other ethnic minorities on two issues that have a vital impact on people's lives, namely, education and employment.
The United States is an immigrant country composed of more than 2 different races, ethnicities, ethnic origins and cultural traditions, and it is known as the melting pot of the nations of the world. However, in American history, the myth of "national melting pot" is mainly for white immigrants, while the beauty of ethnic minorities (mainly so-called "colored people" such as Indians, blacks and Asians).