clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. The Court has determined, after twenty five years of debate, that the most stringent standard of review applies to all such classifications, even those intended to benefit rather than to burden historically disadvantaged minorities. This standard has been applied to racial preference programs in employment, state and federal government contracting, and voting. The Court has yet to revisit affirmative action programs in higher education. Does the new standard mean that the Court has adopted a color-blind theory of equal protection, holding in effect that any racial classification by the government is unconstitutional, that no governmental unit may take race into account except to cure a plain constitutional violation of equal protection? Has the Court overruled Regents v. Bakke, the charter for affirmative action in higher education? In Bakke v Regents of the University of California, we have a landmark reverse discrimination case that influenced education as a whole. Bakke was rejected from graduate school even though he had superior scores than many of the African-American applicants who were admitted. Bakke challenged the University of California and overturned the quota system that had been established in public universities across the nation. The University of California held on to the belief that black people should have access to black doctors. However, if the University were to go on a sole merit system then the number of special admittees would diminish along with the aforementioned belief. This belief was quickly altered by the Supreme Court with their decision against the University.While the approach the Courts use is meant to be color blind, the outcome is anything but color blind. This can be seen through an examination of the equal protection jurisprudence of Justice O'Connor, the pivotal swing vote on these issues in the last decade and author of the crucial opinions in Richmond v...
