Inc. v. Pena Adarand Constructors - Significance, Affirmative Action Standards Clarified, Further Readings

court petitioner justices based

Petitioner

Adarand Constructors, Inc.

Respondent

Federico Pena, Secretary of Transportation

Petitioner's Claim

That race-based presumptions in federal subcontractor programs violate equal protection under the law.

Chief Lawyer for Petitioner

William Perry Pendley

Chief Lawyer for Respondent

Drew S. Days III, Solicitor General

Justices for the Court

Anthony M. Kennedy, Sandra Day O'Connor (writing for the Court), William H. Rehnquist, Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas

Justices Dissenting

Stephen Breyer, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, David H. Souter, John Paul Stevens

Place

Washington, D.C.

Date of Decision

12 June 1995

Decision

Declared that classifications based explicitly on race must be narrowly tailored.The Court furthered compelling government interests by overturning the lower court's ruling against Adarand by a vote of 5-4.

Related Cases

Fullilove v. Klutznick, 448 U.S. 448 (1980).
Richmond v. J. A. Croson Co., 488 U.S. 469 (1989).
Metro Broadcasting, Inc. v. Federal Communications Commission, 497 U.S. 547 (1990).

Additional Topics

Inc. v. Pena Adarand Constructors - Significance

Although this decision did not prohibit the federal government from involving itself in affirmative action programs, it marked a retreat from the U.S. Supreme Court's earlier endorsement of minority set-aside programs as a remedy for past racial discrimination. As an element of its affirmative action policy, in the 1960s the federal government adopted Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and …

Inc. v. Pena Adarand Constructors - Affirmative Action Standards Clarified

In 1980, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Fullilove v. Klutznick that a 10 percent minority set-aside of federally-funded public works contracts did not violate the equal protection component of the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment. But in 1989, the Court held in Richmond v. J. A. Croson Company that state government classifications by race, regardless of whether they were proposed for "re…

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