Nick Lami
Mr. Grundfest
Supreme court decsions: CH. 39,40
3/30/15
1989: Wards Cove Parking v. Antonia
The courts ruling made it harder to prove that an employer practiced discrimination in hiring employees. The decision also made it easier for whites to claim versus discrimination.
Martin v. Wilks
Fire fighters from Jefferson County argued that he and other white firefighters were more qualified than some of the black firefighters receiving promotions and these black firefighters were receiving them just because prior country law said blacks and whites had to recive the same amount of benefits. The court ruled that the white firefighters had rights over the black fire fighters for the benefits.
Webster v. Reproductive Health Services
The court ruled that the state of Missouri had the right to restrict the money allocated to program’s that favored abortions and its practices.
City of Richmond v. Croson
Invalidated Richmond, Virginia's local ordinance establishing a minority business set-aside program.The Court, for the first time, adopted the strict scrutiny standard of review in assessing affirmative action programs, demanding that such programs be supported by a "compelling government interest" and narrowly tailored to ensure the program fits that interest. While not rejecting all governmental race-conscious remedies, the Court set a very high standard for their continued use by state and local governments.
1991: UAW v. Johnson Controls
The Court made clear that Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act prohibits companies from firing or excluding only women from jobs that may pose reproductive health hazards, even though the jobs may pose similar threats to men. 1992: Planned Parenthood v. Casey
The court upheld the view of a right to abortion, but that states could make it very hard to do so.
1996: Hopwood v. Texas
Was the first successful legal challenge to a university's affirmative action policy in student admissions. The court eventually proclaimed that universities did not have the right to admit black or Latino students just because they were black or white. The Smartest got in. The courts cases of the 80’s and 90’s created sharp differences between the views sought out on many courts cases. Some decisions were consistent with the opinion of US citizens and some were the complete opposite. Some decisions strengthened fundamental principles Other decisions, notably near the end of the 1980s, created uncertainties that could only be addressed through Congressional action. Many of the court cases seen in the
