Court Rejects Affirmative Action Cases

Supreme Court Rejects Affirmative Action Cases

Justices are still looking for a better test case

By Charles Bierbaue - AP

WASHINGTON (March 9 2007) - The Supreme Court signaled it is still looking for the best case to test current affirmative action laws, but rejected two cases at the end of Feb.

The court rejected without comment appeals by a white University of Nevada professor claiming discrimination and a case from Florida's Dade County seeking to reinstate an affirmative action contracting program.

Sociology professor Yvette Farmer argued the University of Nevada hired a black professor before her and paid the black professor more. The university was acting under an affirmative action plan to increase minorities on its faculty.

The case was similar to the affirmative action case the Supreme Court had expected to hear. But a New Jersey school teacher accepted a last-minute settlement engineered by civil rights organizations on behalf of the Piscataway School District because they feared the high court would use the case to overturn affirmative action.

The justices also declined to hear the Dade County appeal which would set aside construction contracts for black-owned companies and a similar appeal by a minority contractors' group seeking programs for Hispanics and females.

The justices appear to be waiting for other affirmative action cases making their way through lower courts, most notably a case against the University of Michigan's admissions policy.