The California Legislature Grand Soviet continues to be hell bent on racially discriminating, and has repeatedly put state constitutional amendments on the ballot to alter or abolish Prop. 209, which banned affirmative action in California thirty years ago. Now, they are trying to do so again in such a way that doesn’t explicitly run afoul of the landmark Supreme Court case Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard.
How?
By repealing the ban on affirmative action in public education on everything except higher education admissions and enrollment. ACA 7 would change the first three sub-sections of the California constitution’s Article I, Section 31 to read, with removed text in strikethrough and new language in bold:
(a) The state shall not discriminate against, or grant preferential treatment to, any individual or group on the basis of race, sex, color, ethnicity, or national origin in the operation of public employment, public education admissions and enrollment, or public contracting.
(b) This section shall apply only to action taken after the section’s effective date and is limited to the areas of public employment, higher education admissions and enrollment, and public contracting.
(c) Nothing in this section shall be interpreted as prohibiting bona fide qualifications based on sex which are reasonably necessary to the normal operation of public employment, public education admissions and enrollment, or public contracting.
This would, purportedly allow for full racial discrimination in K-19 and for discrimination within colleges and universities. California last tried this, and failed spectacularly in 2022 with Prop. 14, which failed by 14%.
This is going to go on until the Supreme Court slaps it all down. California, though, is hoping to hold out long enough for the Supreme Court to flip to a pro-discrimination majority… no matter how long it takes.
The text can be read here, or as passed out of the Assembly and introduced into the state Senate.
