In a plurality opinion in the 1978 Supreme Court case Regents of the University of California v. Bakke, Justice Lewis Powell held that colleges and universities could consider an applicant's race in the admissions process in order to attain a diverse student body. In a pair of cases that will be decided in the current term, the Supreme Court has…

Over the last few years, even as the U.S. Supreme Court was considering the constitutionality of race-conscious policies in postsecondary admissions in "Fisher v. University of Texas" (2016), a new wave of attacks in the conservative agenda to dismantle affirmative action (as the policy is more commonly called) emerged. First, in 2014…

Few studies have focused on the role of Asian Americans in influencing how race is understood in affirmative action debates. However, accounting for the complicating presence of Asian Americans in the racial politics of affirmative action has become increasingly important. Informed by racial formation theory, this critical discourse analysis of…

We use the Critical Race Theory frameworks of interest convergence and divergence to critique the anti-affirmative action movement's co-option of Asian Americans. Past discussions of affirmative action and Asian Americans mainly concentrate on how Asian Americans are affected by affirmative action, whether positively or negatively. We demonstrate…

This paper contains edited excerpts from a report written by Asian American students at the University of California, Berkeley, Law School in 1975 in response to the faculty's proposal to eliminate or reduce the special admissions program for Asians on the grounds that they have "made it" in American society. (Author/AM)

Amidst much controversy, the United States Department of Justice has filed an amicus brief in the Supreme Court on behalf of the special minority admissions program at the University of California Medical School at Davis. This fact sheet is intended to show why Asian and Pacific Americans and those friendly toward Asians should pay careful…