Affirmative actionThe practice of considering race, sex, or ethnicity in college admissions and public contracting and employment to ameliorate the effects of discrimination, known as affirmative action, was ruled to be constitutional by the U.S.
Supreme Court in the 1978 case of Regents of the University of California v. Bakke, so long as a specific quota system is not used and race is considered among a variety of factors.
Nevertheless, California voters passed Proposition 209 in 1996 to ban affirmative action in the state. Its major champion was Ward Connerly, a Black Republican activist and then-UC regent.Prop 16 would repeal Prop 209, amending the California Constitution to once again allow affirmative action.