Appeals Court Upholds California’s Ban On Affirmative Action

The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld California’s Proposition 209’s ban on Affirmative Action.  Proposition 209 has withstood a number of attempts to overturn it, including California bill SB 185.  The plaintiffs in this latest appeal cited a 50% drop in Black, Latino, and Native American enrollment at UC Berkeley and UCLA the year after the law was passed by California voters in 1996.  A previous attempt to overturn the law was rejected by the same court in 1997.  Data suggests that Asian Americans were major beneficiaries of the law, although certain Asian American subgroups like Filipinos suffered greatly after its passage.