Most of them believe that all policies of discrimination should be discarded. They view these policies as unwise, immoral and unconstitutional. Three conservative organizations submitted a collective brief to the Supreme Court on the Michigan cases. These organizations were the Center for Equal Opportunity, the Independent Women's Forum and the American Civil Rights Institute. Their brief succinctly stated that racial preferences were incompatible with the 14th Amendment. The 14th Amendment, according to them, clearly states that no person within its jurisdiction would be denied the equal protection of the laws. The silence of the justices to this statement was perceived to indicate insufficient interest in the original understanding than in their own case law. In 1865 and 1866, radical Republicans proposed a constitutional amendment that no State could set distinctions in civil rights and privileges according to race, color or descent. That proposal was ignored in the Joint Committee of the 39th Congress. It was the opinion of many that America would have been in better condition if this proposal was approved. The 14th Amendment, which was passed, was really much more limited. In the late 1860s and early 1870s, the equal protection clause was intended for the States to extend the protection of lives, limbs and property from only some to all people. Congress member Thaddeus Stevens emphasized that punishment, protections, redress and the right to testify in court would be equal to whites and Blacks. The equal protection, due process, privileges and immunities clauses of the 14th Amendment might have been originally intended to some of the rights in the Bill of Rights to the States or to guarantee other civil rights. Reconstruction-era Republicans considered segregation in education a violation of civil rights so that the Brown v Board of Education case was grounded on this. The Supreme Court should have rejected the University of Michigan's admission preferences as illegal and unconstitutional. Racial discrimination may not be prohibited by the Constitution but it is, by the Civil Rights Act of 1964. This has two implications. The Supreme Court is not allowed to prohibit racial preferences not prohibited by statute. But if Congress wants to allow universities to practice racial preferences, it should change the law so that court decisions would be honest and constitutional (Ponnuru).
Federal Judge David Lawson gave Michigan universities a six-month extension to continue their race-and-gender-based admissions, hiring and financial assistance (Walker 2007). This ruling delayed the implementation of a constitutional amendment, which banned affirmative action scheduled to become effective in late December. Michigan State University and Wayne State University wanted additional time to study Proposal 2. The extension would end on July 1. The delay was the idea of Governor Jennifer Granholm, State Attorney General Mike Cox and the lawyers of the three universities. Governor Granhold said they understood the voters' decision but her group was also very much administratively committed to diversity. Affirmative action proponents bewailed the universities' lack of excuse to continue their practice for another half year (Walker).
2000 National Opinion Research Center survey showed that a majority of Americans favored affirmative action when questions were vaguely worded or posed (Paul 2003). When words, like "preferences" and "quotas" were used, enthusiasm for affirmative action steeply vanished. At first, respondents say that past discrimination practices should now stop and preference in hiring and promotion should be given Blacks. Others said preference would discriminate against white and therefore wrong. When asked if they favored preferential hiring and promotion for Blacks, only 13% of whites and 43% of Blacks agreed. In the meantime, Blacks showed stronger support for affirmative action programs than whites did (Paul).
Two affirmative action cases reflected the opinions of politicians of both parties and expressed as binding Supreme Court decisions (National Review 1995). The first was the Adarand Constructors v Pena and the second was th Missouri v Jenkins. The Adarand case had to do with minorities in federal transportation projects. The Federal Government manages $14.4 billion a year to disadvantaged business enterprises, which were owned by minorities or women. The Missouri case was a review of the public school system of Kansas City. For almost a decade then, the federal district judge had ordered the State to use $200 million annually to make the inner city schools equal to those of the suburbs. In each case, four justices decided to maintain the status quo. Justices Scalia and Thomas concurred. Justice Thomas ruled as irrelevant if racial classifications were drawn by oppressors or those who sincerely wanted to help the disadvantaged. Judging the...
Many times, police officers are attacked or the prisoners themselves are injured during this booking process. The deaths and injuries, specifically of prisoners belonging to ethnic minorities, have triggered conflicts between the police and the community in recent years. Studies showed that the separation of the arresting officer and the suspect appeared to lessen the rate of reoccurrence. The studies recommended an evaluation of procedures and reinforcement (Community Relations
Add to this confusion the growing prevalence of telecommuters and the issues of the FLSA become even more complicated. Of course some telecommuting positions fall into the exempt category, and therefore are not subject to overtime pay, however some do. Due to the freedom to engage in 'private pursuits', employers may monitor when a virtual employee logs onto his or her computer and may require that he or she get
Unconsented Facebook Behavioral User Research Facebook's 2012 involvement in a behavioral experiment on a series of its unknowing users Case Presentation There is much controversy with regard to Facebook's role in a scandal involving users being followed and exploited. The company is responsible for performing a study where 689,003 individuals on Facebook were manipulated in an attempt to determine how particular ideas influenced them. These respective users were divided in two groups:
The court easily could have come to a contrary result, given that it denied most of the allegations of the plaintiff, other than the specific contention that the nature of this specific advertising was particularly inconsistent with state educational statues and school board policy. Even the plaintiff conceded that advertising in the form of school vending machines, yearbooks, sports scorecards, etc. had long been tolerated in schools, and would
Political Science: First InitialQuestion 2The interest groups try to affect the judicial system in three ways: lobbying on judicial confirmations, filing amicus curiae briefs, and sponsoring litigation[footnoteRef:1]. Lobbying on the judicial confirmations includes knowing who would become the court judge to influence the court case and their decisions could be made. Appointing a suitable judge on this position costs millions of dollars to those who want to have their judge
During the 1960's and 1970's, violent contact with the police, resulting in force occurred during anti-war, labor and civil rights demonstrations, during a politically tumultuous time. It is safe to conclude that excessive force was used during these clashes. Deaths and injuries were the results of political clashes at the Republican Convention in Chicago, during campus riots held at several universities, during political demonstrations held in public places and in
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