Another scrap is brewing in the protracted battle over preferred treatment for minority student applicants to California schools as opposition to Proposition 209 lingers. SanFranciscoChronicle
Challenging the 1996 voter ban on affirmative action based on race or gender are 55 University of California school applicants and an advocacy group contending that “developments” since passage of the initiative offer the courts an opportunity to re-examine the measure. The initiative prohibits preferential treatment for education and state hiring, and was passed by a 54 percent margin. Since then, courts have generally viewed it as “race-neutral.”
Gov. Jerry Brown announced Monday that his administration will back plaintiffs in the latest court action, asserting the current situation “creates an unequal political structure.”
Previously, an appeals court panel backed Prop. 209, and Monday’s three-judge panel hinted it would not stray from that path.
“That’s water under the bridge,” Judge A. Wallace Tashima said.
