Posted on June 21, 2009
White man’s burden?

Despite decades of reverse discrimination rulings, lawsuits still flourish
"Quotas do not end discrimination. They are discrimination." Roger Clegg, president of the Center for Equal Opportunity,
The issue of reverse discrimination first reached the nation’s highest court in the 1970s, when a student with good grades named Allan Bakke accused a University of California medical school of twice denying him admission because he was white.

Strict racial quotas were unconstitutional, the court said — affirmative action was not. But that ruling far from decided what many considered the big-picture issue: does protecting minorities discriminate against the majority?

More than 30 years, and scores of lawsuits later, the question remains unanswered. Meanwhile, more Americans came to believe that affirmation action is no longer necessary, and that instead of leveling the playfield for minorities, it unfairly punishes whites.

Last week, the Supreme Court heard arguments in a case filed by white firefighters who claimed they were denied promotion because of the color of their skin.

“The laws that Congress wrote are clear — everyone is protected from racial discrimination,â€