👩🏾⚖️AP US Government
This question requires you to compare a Supreme Court case you studied in class with one you have not studied in class. A summary of the Supreme Court case you did not study in class is presented and provides all of the information you need to know about this case to answer the prompts.
Regents of the University of California v. Bakke (1978)
Allan Bakke, a thirty-five-year-old white man, had twice applied for admission to the University of California Medical School at Davis. He was rejected both times. The school reserved sixteen places in each entering class of one hundred for "qualified" minorities, as part of the university's affirmative action program, in an effort to redress longstanding, unfair minority exclusions from the medical profession. Bakke's qualifications (college GPA and test scores) exceeded those of any of the minority students admitted in the two years Bakke's applications were rejected. Bakke contended, first in the California courts, then in the Supreme Court, that he was excluded from admission solely on the basis of race.
The Court ruled 8-1 in favor of Bakke. No and yes. There was no single majority opinion. Four of the justices contended that any racial quota system supported by government violated the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Justice Lewis F. Powell, Jr., agreed, casting the deciding vote ordering the medical school to admit Bakke. However, in his opinion, Powell argued that the rigid use of racial quotas as employed at the school violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.
3. Respond to parts A, B, and C.
Identify the constitutional clause that is common to both Brown v. Board of Education (1954) and Regents of the University of California v. Bakke (1978).
Explain how the facts in Brown v. Board of Education and Regents of the University of California v. Bakke led to different holdings.
Explain how the holding in Regents of the University of California v. Bakke reflects the concept of equality.
