On Tuesday, November 5, 1996 California voters amended their state constitution by approving Proposition 209, sometimes referred to as the California Civil Rights Initiative or CCRI. The vote tally was 54.6% - 45.4%, a margin of nearly 900,000 votes. Proposition 209's first clause reads:
(a) The state shall not discriminate against, or grant
preferential treatment to, any individual or group on the
basis of race, sex, color, ethnicity, or national origin in the
operation of public employment, public education, or public
contracting.(1)
The words "preference" or "discriminate" are not defined in the initiative. However, the polity was well aware that the intent of the ballot measure was to dismantle race-based and sex-based affirmative action in the State of California. This was due to the fact that the proposition was championed by Ward Connerly and California Governor Peter Wilson. Connerly is the Regent of the University of California who was instrumental in the elimination of the use of race and gender in admissions decisions at the University of California. He was also the official chairman of the California Civil Rights Initiative. Wilson used his opposition to affirmative action as the centerpiece of his abortive presidential campaign.
Prior to its passage, a loud and public multimedia debate on whether Proposition 209 increased or lessened protections against sex discrimination appeared on newspaper editorial pages, the Internet, television, and talk radio. Both opponents and proponents found legal scholars who supported their views on this question. The reason behind the intense debate was the realization that female voters make up a majority of California's voters and thus held the fate of the initiative in their hands. The crux of...
