Today in Supreme Court History: September 6, 1983

9/6/1983: The City of Richmond solicited bids for installing plumbing fixtures at the city jail. The J.A. Croson Company's bid was denied because it did not meet the "set-aside requirement" for minority contractors. The Supreme Court declared this decision unconstitutional in City of Richmond v. J.A. Croson Co. (1989).

The Rehnquist Court (1989)

Comments

[Mr. Bumble]

Posting it twice won't help.

[Michael P]

It was just that memorable of a day.

But posting comments making light of the mistake doesn't have any real effect; busy professors at the South Texas College of Law Houston don't have time to read the comments.

[Frank Drackman]

Preferences for Minorities to do Plumbing in Jail, don't think that's what MLK had in mind.

[William of Brooklyn]

This is the same principle that will end minority-majority districts.

[Longtobefree]

We are in a time loop Doctor!
(See following article)

[Frank Drackman]

More like a Time Warp,
lets do it again, it's just a jump to the left,
and then a step to the right,
you put your hands on your hips,
and pull your knees in tight,
but it's the pelvic thrusts
that really drives you insane,
lets do the Time Warp again

[JoeFromtheBronx]

The ruling was 6-3 with Justice Stevens concurring in part.

Stevens agreed that race-conscious programs were sometimes warranted. The fit was not adequate here. He made a few dubious assumptions, such as:

It is the judicial system, rather than the legislative process, that is best equipped to identify past wrongdoers and to fashion remedies that will create the conditions that presumably would have existed had no wrong been committed.

The 14th Amendment gives "Congress" the power to enforce the amendment. Congress has special power under the amendment. It can also delegate to the states and localities.

It is not the only one who enforces its terms. States can pass laws to protect equal protection. They did in a myriad of ways, including race-conscious programs.

Congress does have the most authority here, including because they are a national body representing the country as a whole.

After Dred Scott, it is a bit much to say the courts were given more power here. Some argue that race-conscious programs, per se, are unconstitutional.

This is not loyal to original understanding, fwiw, nor does the text compel it. The text ensures equal protection under the law. The question is how to uphold that overall.

The opposition goes into the weeds on principle and results about the problems of using race [the Equal Protection Clause is not race specific; it was especially ratified for that purpose].

Such opposition might (on some level) be convincing on policy grounds. The level of assurance required to deny popular governments to balance everything is higher.

Justice Thurgood Marshall, who knew a thing or two about how to fight racial discrimination, dissented.

[Michael P]

You could have saved a lot of typing by just typing "Discrimination against whites is good and it doesn't matter what the Constitution or laws say." That would have been clearer and more honest.

[Frank Drackman]

C'mon Man!!
Malia and Sasha Obama need some "Affirmative Action" more so than Bobby Sue Clampett from Bug Tussle Arkansas

Frank

[Stupid Government Tricks]

The problem with allowing some corrective discrimination is not just knowing how much is good and when it crosses the line into bad. It's that the people making those decisions are not made angels by virtue of receiving government paychecks, nor endowed with crystal balls to see the future consequences.

The only way to stop racism is to stop being racist, to stop noting race, to stop documenting race, to stop legislating race. Yes, it leaves racists free to be racist, but all mandated integration has done is hide the racists. It has cut the rattle off the snake, and the racists' silence is more dangerous to the public than to the racists.

[Frank Drackman]

Love when the Race-ists say "if we just go by test scores and grades every Med Screw-el will be 90% Asian!!!(as if it isn't close to that already)
Hmm, so talent for different skills isn't distributed equally among the Races?? like how the NHL is 99.9% White, the NBA is 90% Black and the NFL isn't much behind?
Do you want to see some huge Black guys trying to Ice Skate?? (It'd be more entertaining than your usual NHL game) or an Orthodox Jew trying to turn a 6-4-3 twin killing??

Frank (He/White/Hebrew)

[Frank Drackman]

Justice Stephens was only on the Court because Jerry Ford played too many Foo-bawl games without his Helmet. "Sometimes Warranted"?? funny how JPS didn't see fit to turn his seat over to a "Deserving Minority"
I read JPS's Auto-Erotic Biography, Erica Jong's "Fear of Flying" didn't have as many "Zipless (Redacteds)"*
Always love a Thoroughly (Bad) Marshall reference, George Thorogood and any of the Delaware Destroyers would have been better.
When Thoroughly announced his retirement in July 1991, (I had just returned from Saudi Arabia and was basking in the pleasure of my 27" Sony Trinitron "Big Screen" that I'd bought literally 2 days before I shipped out to the Gulf)
he took a few questions from the Press, to every damn question his first response was
"Wha??????????" (He was Deaf, but hey, we all know they don't listen to Oral arguments anyway)
it was sort of like Sleepy Joe's 2024 Debate performance.
OK, I'm sure he was better 30 years earlier, who isn't??
* Let me know who else has referenced EJ's "ZF" in the last 40 years

Frink