Affirmative action

The source of law also matters. The University of North Carolina is a public institution and therefore subject to equal protection. Harvard is private, but its receipt of federal funds brought the admissions program within Title VI, whose prohibition on racial discrimination supplied the statutory route. Suppose a public college recruits heavily in low-income rural and urban schools and gives added consideration to economic disadvantage. Those race-neutral criteria may change the racial composition of the class without classifying applicants by race. A rule automatically adding points because an applicant is a member of a named race is different and receives strict scrutiny. Do not assume that every outreach program is a racial classification or that a well-intended racial classification avoids review. On a CLEP item, identify the actor, the precise criterion, and the source of law before selecting scrutiny; admissions, employment, contracting, and remedial orders can involve different doctrines.

and classification remain separate. Government may remedy a specific, identified instance of unlawful discrimination, but a remedial label does not justify every racial category, duration, or beneficiary. Narrow tailoring examines the evidence, relationship between remedy and injury, alternatives, flexibility, and endpoint. Race-neutral recruitment or removal of a proven biased procedure may widen opportunity without assigning benefits by race. On a CLEP item, distinguish individualized experience from mechanical preference and a proven remedy from an open-ended aspiration.

Video lesson: Affirmative Action: Crash Course Government and Politics #32