The 1978 Supreme Court decision in Bakke v. Regents of the University of California
A. established the "red state-blue state" divide.
[B. ruled against the principle of affirmative action.]
C. established the rights of students to appeal college admissions policies.
D. ruled in favor of affirmative action within specified limits.
is my answer correct
correct
D RULED IN FAVOR
(D) RULED IN FAVOR
I just did this test, the correct answer is D.
Your answer is partially correct. The correct answer is D. Bakke v. Regents of the University of California (1978) did rule in favor of affirmative action within specified limits. To better understand this, let me explain the case and the decision in more detail.
Bakke v. Regents of the University of California was a landmark Supreme Court case that dealt with affirmative action in college admissions. Allan Bakke, a white applicant, was denied admission to the medical school at the University of California, Davis, even though his academic qualifications exceeded those of minority applicants who were admitted through a special program. Bakke argued that this admission policy violated the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.
The Supreme Court decision in Bakke was complex, as it did not yield a single majority ruling. However, by examining the various opinions of the justices, the Court's decision can be distilled into the following key points:
1. The Court ruled that racial quotas or set-asides, which reserved a fixed number of seats for minority applicants, were unconstitutional. This means that the use of strict numerical quotas based on race alone was deemed impermissible.
2. However, the Court affirmed that diversity in student bodies is a compelling state interest. It recognized that programs taking race or ethnicity into account as one factor among many in college admissions decisions could be constitutional. This concept became known as "affirmative action within specified limits."
So, to summarize, the Supreme Court decision in Bakke v. Regents of the University of California (1978) did rule against the use of strict racial quotas but upheld the concept of affirmative action within specified limits, emphasizing the importance of diversity in higher education. Therefore, option D is the correct answer.