In 1964 and 1965 President Johnson signed the Civil Rites acts, and these acts included affirmative action. While affirmative action may have been needed then it is now superfluous. Affirmative action has been questioned several times. One time was Bakke verses University of California Regents; Bakke claimed he wasn"t admitted to University California-Davis because he was white. Also prop 209 passed in California in 1996. You have the civil rites acts of 64 and 65. Affirmative action has recently been challenged at the University of Michigan. These are just several times that Affirmative Action has come into to play.
In case of Bakke verses University of California Regents, Bakke attempted twice to enroll in the University of California Medical School at Davis unsuccessfully. "The school reserved sixteen places in each entering class of one hundred for "qualified" minorities, as part of the university's affirmative action program"(www.plhs.esu3.org). In other words they wouldn"t always take the 100 most qualified people, since 16 students entering the school must be a minority. "Bakke's qualifications exceeded those of any of the minority students admitted in the two years Bakke's applications were rejected"(www.plhs.esu3.org). This was the basis of Bakke's case. Bakke argued that he was kept out of University of California Medical School at Davis because he was white. .
His attorneys brought up this question, "Did the University of California violate the Fourteenth Amendment's equal protection clause, and the Civil Rights Act of 1964, by practicing an affirmative action policy that resulted in the repeated rejection of Bakke's application for admission to its medical school?"(www.plhs.esu3.org). When the Supreme Court decided on Bakke's case they returned with one of their most hypocritical decisions.
No and yes Four of the justices contended that any racial quota system supported by government violated the Civil Rights Act of 1964.