Calling it the appropriate decision, Kweisi Mfume, NAACP
President & CEO, said the NAACP is satisfied that the U.S.
Supreme Court today opted not to rule on a major affirmative
action case involving federal contracts set aside for minority
businesses.
Mfume said: “The Supreme Court made the right choice in
dropping its plans to issue another ruling on the Adarand
case. As it now stands, Adarand is more than adequate as a
legal decree for the federal government to continue to
vigorously support affirmative action.”
Opponents of affirmative action were hoping the high court
would use the new case to eliminate the federal
government’s affirmative action programs that award highway
contracts to minority-owned businesses. In August, President
Bush directed the Justice Department to defend the concept
of affirmative action in Adarand Construction Inc. v. Mineta,
which was argued before the justices last month. The Bush
administration cited “extensive evidence of public and private
discrimination” in the award of these contracts.
Mfume said: “The promise of equal opportunity is a right of all
Americans. All Americans, irrespective of race, should have
every reason to believe that their government will work to
ensure a level playing field for all people in the areas of
commerce, employment and education.”
The Adarand Construction, Inc., case was initiated in 1990
by the highway construction firm based in Colorado and
owned by a white man who sued over a program that set
aside construction contracts for minority businesses.
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