Definition. A set of procedures designed to eliminate unlawful discrimination among applicants, remedy the results of such prior discrimination, and prevent such discrimination in the future. Applicants may be seeking admission to an educational program or looking for professional employment.In modern American jurisprudence, it typically imposes remedies against discrimination on the basis of, at the very least, race, creed, color, and national origin.
Demonstrators outside the federal courthouse in Boston where the Harvard affirmative action case is being heard.Liu Jie/Zuma
Supreme Court to hear challenge to affirmative action in college admissions
Decision could upend four decades of legal precedent allowing use of race as factor in decisions, alter higher education in U.S.
https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2022/01/supreme-court-to-take-harvard-admissions-case/
Employment
Government Contractors
In 1961, President John F. Kennedy issued an executive order mandating government contractors to "take affirmative action to ensure that applicants are employed, and that employees are treated during employment, without regard to their race, creed, color, or national origin." ( Executive Order 10925) Since 1965, government contractors have been required to document their affirmative action programs through compliance reports, to contain "such information as to the practices, policies, programs, and employment policies, programs, and employment statistics of the contractor and each subcontractor . . . " (Executive Order 11246). Enforcement is conducted by the U.S. Department of Labor's Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs.
In Richmond v. Croson, 488 U.S. 469 (1989), the Supreme Court held that strict scrutiny applies to state statutes which set standards for affirmative action.
General
Employers who contract with the government or who otherwise receive federal funds are required to document their affirmative action practices and metrics. Affirmative action is also a remedy, under the Civil Rights Act of 1964, where a court finds that an employer has intentionally engaged in discriminatory practices.
The Equal Employment Opportunity commission, created by Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, enforces the following employment anti-discrimination laws: (source: EEOC).
- Equal Pay Act of 1963
- Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (race, color, religion, national origin)
- Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 (people of a certain age)
- Rehabilitation Act of 1973, Sections 501 and 505 (people with disabilities)
- Titles I and V of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990
- Civil Rights Act of 1991
Education
Recipients of federal funds are required to document their affirmative action practices and metrics. Educational institutions which have acted discriminatorily in the past must take affirmative action as a remedy. (34 CFR § 100.3(6)(ii)).
The Office of Civil Rights enforces the following education anti-discrimination laws: (source: OCR)
- Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (race, color, religion, national origin)
- Age Discrimination Act of 1975 (people of a certain age)
- Title IX of the Educational Amendments of 1972 (gender)
- Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (people with disabilities)
- Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990
- The Boy Scouts of America Equal Access Act (Section 9525 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, as amended by the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001) (equal access for outside community groups to school facilities during non-school hours)
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