As many as 100,000 people were expected to show up, writes. This March on Washington Movement planned a demonstration on the U.S. Philip Randolph led the nationwide effort protesting African-Americans contributing to the war effort while still being subject to Jim Crow segregation laws at home. involvement in World War II, civil rights activist A. The Supreme Court ruled that the Wagner Act was constitutional in 1937.įour years later, on the cusp of U.S. “Employers almost universally did not welcome the Act”, said NLRB chairman J. The race-based affiliation of this phrase hadn’t been codified yet.Įmployers reacted with hostility to the new law and called the NLRB biased toward laborers. Better known as the Wagner Act, the legislation established the National Labor Relations Board and collective bargaining, as well as decreeing that employers found practicing discriminatory labor laws would be required “.to take such affirmative action including reinstatement of employees with or without backpay.”. Most prominent among the early sightings of the phrase "affirmative action" is its presence in the National Labor Relations Act of 1935. To take an "affirmative action" was to literally act affirmatively-not allowing events to run their course but rather having the government (or employers) take an active role in treating employees fairly. Wilcher, the executive director for the American Association for Access, Equity and Diversity. Though education is largely the focus of today’s affirmative action debate, the origin of the term is rooted with legalese in employment law, explains Shirley J. The rest of the student population goes through a regular admissions process that considers race and ethnicity as factors.ĭepending on how broadly the court rules, Fisher II could reverse Bakke in what would be a “disastrous blow to proponents of race-based affirmative action,” Elton Lossner writes for the Harvard Political Review. Fisher, who came in the top 12 percent of her class, missed the mark. In Texas, students that rank in the top 10 percent of their public high schools are guaranteed a spot at UT-Austin. ![]() The case in question today began when Abigail Fisher, a white high school student, sued the University of Texas at Austin after being denied admission to the school, arguing that the school's affirmative action policy violates her 14th Amendment rights under the equal protection clause. The Court last upheld affirmative action in admission decisions in 2003 in Grutter v. Justice Anthony Kennedy, the expected swing vote, “does not like affirmative action and has never voted to affirm it,” as Garrett Epps put it for The Atlantic in December 2015, when the court heard oral arguments in the case, which is actually a re-hearing of a case originally brought before the Court in 2008. ![]() University of Texas II, will end in a 4-3 dissent against affirmative action (Elena Kagan has recused herself from the case after working on it as U.S. Bakke (1978).Ĭourt watchers are predicting that the suit challenging the use of racial preference as a factor in the college admissions process, Fisher v. ![]() This week, the term is in the news because the Supreme Court may reverse course on an almost 40-year-old ruling that declared race-based affirmative action constitutional in Regents of the University of California v. Merriam-Webster places its first known use in 1965, but the historical record shows it being used years before. University in defining those intangible characteristics, like student body diversity, that are central to its identity and educational mission." The majority opinion, written by Justice Kennedy, left open the possibility of future changes, stating that "it is the University’s ongoing obligation to engage in constant deliberation and continued reflection regarding its admission policies."įor a term as loaded with political meaning as “affirmative action,” it might come as a surprise to learn that its origins on the political landscape still remain somewhat of a mystery. ![]() UPDATE: In a surprising decision, the Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of the University of Texas' affirmative action program in a 4-3 decision, writing "Considerable deference is owed to a
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Details
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |