Affirmative action continues to be one of the most hotly contested
issues in America. Volatile and divisive, the debates over its
legitimacy have inspired a number of "reverse discrimination" suits
in the federal courts. Like the landmark 1978 Bakke decision, most
of these have focused on preferential treatment given racial
minorities. In Johnson v. Santa Clara, however, the central issue
was gender, not race discrimination, and the Supreme Court's
decision in that case marked a resounding victory for women in the
work force.
Johnson v. Santa Clara involved two people who in 1980 competed
for a dispatcher position with the transportation department of
Santa Clara County, California. Paul Johnson had more experience
and slightly higher test scores, but Diane Joyce was given the job
based on affirmative action. An irate Johnson sued the county and
won, only to have the decision reversed in appellate court. That
reversal was subsequently upheld in the Supreme Court's 1987
decision, reaffirming that it was legitimate for employers to
consider gender in hiring.
Preeminent legal historian Melvin Urofsky proves an exemplary
guide through the complexities of this case as he takes us from the
workplace through the various levels of our federal court system.
Balancing the particulars of the case with an overview of
constitutional law and judicial process, he creates a model legal
history that is both appealing and enlightening for the
non-scholar. Urofsky is especially good at highlighting the
fundamental human drama of this case and shows how Johnson and
Joyce were simply ordinary people, each with valid reasons for
their actions, but both ultimately caught up in legal and social
issues that reached well beyond their own lives.
Affirmative Action on Trial pointedly addresses the issue of sex
discrimination and the broader controversy over the place of
affirmative action in American society. The latter continues to
generate headlines, like those that followed the 1996 Supreme Court
decision to let stand a lower-court ruling that race cannot be used
as a determination for admission to academic programs. More
recently, several states have even taken steps to end affirmative
action altogether. While it's hard to tell how such actions will
ultimately impact affirmative action, there's no question that the
rulings in cases like Johnson v. Santa Clara will continue to guide
and influence the debates both inside and outside the
courtroom.
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