Allan Bakke claimed he was a victim of reverse discrimination.
Regents of the University of California v. Bakke (1978)
Regents of University of California v. Bakke
Regents of the University of California v. Bakke
Regents of the University of California vs Bakke affirmed affirmative action by ruling it as entirely constitutional. This allowed for affirmative action programs to have a clear set of laws and regulations regarding their behavior and rights.
The court ruled that the use of racial quotas in college admissions was unconstitutional.
In the 1978 case Bakke v. Regents of the University of California, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the use of racial quotas in college admissions was unconstitutional. The Court also held that affirmative action programs could be used as long as race was not the sole factor in decision making. This decision has had a significant impact on affirmative action policies in education.
University of California v. Bakke
In Bakke v Regents of the University of California, Alan Bakke, who had applied to the University and been rejected, sued the Regents claiming that his civil rights as a white had been denied by the University's policy of affirmative action for non--white applicants. Affirmative action, he argued, violated the Civil RIghts Act of 1964, which forbids racial discrimination by the federal government or any program (such as a state university) that receives federal funding. The Supreme Court held that affirmative action was constitutionally allowed so long as race was only one of several factors taken into account by admissions officers, but that strict quotas that could apply regardless of qualifications violated the law.
Allan Bakke was the plaintiff in the famous "reverse discrimination" lawsuit again the University of California at Davis medical school. The case went to the US Supreme Court which found the medical school admission process discriminated against Bakke, and also found that strict quotas were an unlawful way to increase diversity.Case Citation:Regents of the University of California v. Bakke, 438 U.S. 265 (1978)
Baker won the case.
Some major US Supreme Court decisions from the 1970s include Roe v. Wade (1973) which legalized abortion, United States v. Nixon (1974) which ordered the release of Watergate tapes, and Regents of the University of California v. Bakke (1978) which addressed affirmative action in college admissions.