Case: University of California Regents v. Bakke

This suit was brought in California state court by a white man whose application to the Medical School of the University of California at Davis was rejected against the University of California Board of Regents. The plaintiff challenged the school’s special admissions program, which reserved 16 of 100 positions in the class for disadvantaged minority students. The plaintiff alleged violations of Section 601 of Title VI of the Civil Rights Acts of 1964, the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, and a provision of the California Constitution. He sought injunctive and declaratory relief. The case was assigned to Judge Leslie Manker of the Yolo County Superior Court.

The Clearinghouse does not have access to trial court litigation documents, but it is known from appellate court documents that the Board of Regents cross-claimed for a declaratory judgment that its special admissions program was legal. The trial court held that the program was a racial quota in violation of the Equal Protection Clause. Judge Manker refused to order the university to admit the applicant for lack of proof that the applicant would have been admitted but for the special admissions program. Both parties appealed and the case was transferred directly to the California Supreme Court “because of the importance of the issues involved.”

Writing for the California Supreme Court on September 16, 1976, Justice Mosk affirmed that the special admissions program violated the Equal Protection Clause for “nonminority applicants” and further ordered the applicant admitted. The court held that while the plaintiff was a member of a racial majority, strict scrutiny was still the appropriate standard of review and that the university had failed to demonstrate that its goal of achieving racial diversity could not be achieved by less detrimental means. Since the university could not demonstrate that, absent the special program, the applicant would not have been admitted, the court ordered his admission. The court did not take up the federal statutory or state constitutional issues. 553 P.2d 1152. 

The Board of Regents appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court and sought a stay of the order to admit the plaintiff, which was granted on November 15, 1976. Certiorari was granted on February 22, 1977.

Oral arguments were heard by the US Supreme Court on October 12, 1977, and an opinion was issued on June 28, 1978. A fractured Court saw six different opinions, with Justice Powell being joined by different four-Justice blocs at times. Effectively writing for the Court, Justice Powell agreed that strict scrutiny was the appropriate standard of review. While Justice Powell agreed that diversity in higher education was a compelling state interest, the Court held that the use of a rigid racial quota or set-aside was not narrowly tailored and thus violated the Equal Protection Clause. Schools thus could consider race in admissions in the future through a more holistic process with race as a plus factor. As to the plaintiff, the Court determined that since the university could not show that the applicant would not have been admitted even in the absence of the special admissions program, he was entitled to admission. The Court did not resolve the Title VI claim since it was not argued or decided in the lower courts. 438 U.S. 265. The Court subsequently vacated its order to stay the applicant’s admission on July 3, 1978. 438 U.S. 912.

This case is closed.