Well looky here, first a green light for stem cell research and now an upholding of affirmative action.
August 11, 2001
White House Favors Keeping an Affirmative
Action Policy
By NEIL A. LEWIS
W ASHINGTON, Aug. 10 — In its first opportunity to take a stance
on affirmative action, the Bush administration asked the Supreme
Court tonight to uphold a Transportation Department program intended to
help minority contractors.
In a brief filed with the court, the Justice Department took the same position
as the Clinton administration had in the case, which grew out of a challenge
brought years ago by a white-owned construction company in Colorado
Springs.
The company, Adarand Constructors, had submitted the low bid for a
Transportation Department contract. But the contract was awarded to a
minority contractor as part of the department's "disadvantaged business
enterprise" program. Adarand sued, challenging the policy.
The case has become somewhat muddled since the Supreme Court first
ruled in 1995 that the program appeared flawed and might not have been
justified in favoring minorities. The court ruled that the program should be
reviewed by lower courts using a newly defined standard of "strict scrutiny"
to see whether using race as a factor was justified in awarding federal
contracts.
Last September, the United States Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit, in
Denver, said the program met the test and was constitutional.
Moreover, since the Supreme Court's first ruling, the program has been
drastically altered so that even some white contractors can apply for its
benefits.
On its last day in office, the Clinton administration argued that the program
now met the Supreme Court's objections and that the court should decline to
reopen the matter. When the justices voted in March to hear a renewed
appeal by Adarand, the Bush administration faced its first significant test on
affirmative action.
In its brief filed tonight, the Justice Department said that "the program is not
unconstitutional."
The 50-page brief cited the changes in the program that allow companies
that are economically disadvantaged to apply for the same preferences in
receiving contracts. The department argued that the program was revised to
minimize harm "to innocent third parties" and to create "as level a playing field
as possible."
But the Bush administration brief also appears to accept an underlying tenet
of affirmative action: that some businesses have suffered as a result of their
minority ownership.
During the presidential campaign, George W. Bush said he opposed quotas
but spoke of a need for "affirmative access," a stance that left his position on
the issue ambiguous.
The decision today by the Bush administration was assailed by traditional
opponents of affirmative action. Linda Chavez, president of the Center for
Equal Opportunity, a conservative group that studies affirmative action
programs, said she was deeply disappointed.
"It's both bad policy and bad politics," Ms. Chavez said. "First of all, it's
never good politics to betray your principles, and all the people involved in
making this policy are people who have opposed racial preferences."
Attorney General John Ashcroft was one person Ms. Chavez cited. As a
senator in 1998, Mr. Ashcroft voted against the program.
But Mindy Tucker, the Justice Department spokeswoman, said that "this is
John Ashcroft doing what he said he would do in the confirmation process,"
noting that Mr. Ashcroft had pledged to defend even those laws with which
he disagreed.
Georgina Verdugo, the executive director of Americans for a Fair Chance, a
coalition of several major civil rights groups that advocates affirmative action,
said she was pleasantly surprised by the Bush administration's approach.
"It's the administration's first real statement on affirmative action," she said.
"This particular program has been through so many changes it is quite clear
that it now meets the Supreme Court's requirements that it be better tailored
as a remedy."
The case is to be heard by the Supreme Court sometime this fall. |
