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The U.S. Supreme Court rules against affirmative action programs in Florida and Michigan.
1989 (Mar 6)
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled against affirmative action programs in Florida and Michigan. In the Florida case, the Court heard an appeal of a ruling from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit which had upheld a set-aside plan for minorities in Dade County, Florida. Under the plan, which was adopted in 1979, in order to qualify for federal funds for a mass transit project, the county had to set aside 5 percent of construction contracts for minorities. But after a low bid on a construction project by the H. K. Porter Co. was rejected because the county did not meet the 5 percent goal, Porter sued. In light of its recent ruling in an affirmative action case from Richmond, Virginia, however, the Supreme Court vacated the decision of the appeals court and ordered it to reexamine the case of Porter v. Metropolitan Dade County. In the Michigan case, the Court affirmed without a written opinion a ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit which declared a Michigan law unconstitutional. That act, adopted in 1981, provided that 7 percent of state contracting expenditures should go to minority-owned businesses and an additional 5 percent to businesses owned by women. Although the state argued in its appeal of Milliken v. Michigan Road Builders that the set-aside percentages were carefully selected “to redress discriminatory practices by state agencies," the supreme court still ruled against it.
References:
- • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.