Affirmative action are programs that are designed to stop discrimination against minorities and women. The University of Michigan utilizes an affirmative action program to decide who gets accepted to the school. In 1995 the University of Michigan rejected the college application of Jennifer Gratz, a white high school student from suburban Detroit. On October 14, 1997 Gratz v. Bollinger was filled in federal court. White students sued the school claiming that the undergraduate and law school affirmative action policies using race and/or gender as a factor in admissions is unconstitutional. This case and a few similar ones went through numerous courts for years. On November 7, 2006 the Michigan electorate approved a proposition that barred affirmative action in public education, employment, or contracting. In July 2011 an appeal overturned this ruling. On Tuesday in a 6-2 ruling the Supreme court upheld Michigan’s ban on using racial criteria in college admissions. This was done by overturning the July 2011 ruling. Publicly funded colleges are now barred from giving preferential treatment to any individual or group on the basis of race, gender, color, ethnicity, or national origin. “This case is not about how the debate about racial preferences should be resolved. It is about who may resolve it,” Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote. “Michigan voters used the initiative system to bypass public officials who were deemed not responsive to the concerns of a majority of the voters with respect to a policy of granting race-based preferences that raises difficult and delicate issues.” The supreme courts Latina justice, Sonia Sotomayor, read part of her dissent from the bench. She took over 15 minutes to express her concern about the ruling’s impact. “This refusal to accept the stark reality that race matters is regrettable. The way to stop discrimination on the basis of race is to speak openly and candidly on the subject of race, and to apply the Constitution with eyes open to the unfortunate effects of centuries of racial discrimination,” she said. “As members of the judiciary tasked with intervening to carry out the guarantee of equal protection, we ought not sit back and wish away, rather than confront, the racial inequality that exists in our society.” In 1996 California voters passed proposition 209. This banned the use of race, gender, or ethnic background by state agencies in areas of education, and government hiring and contracts. Six other states now have similar laws. The state of Texas replaced its affirmative action plan with a percentage plan that guarantees the top 10% of high-school graduates a spot in any state university in Texas. California and Florida have similar programs. On June 24, 2013 the Supreme Court didn’t rule on the school admission policy for the University of Texas. It instead sent it back to the lower court system.
