Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Live At Daybreak
Affirmative Action: Supreme Court Ruling Expected This Week
Aired June 23, 2003 - 05:02 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: We begin with what will likely be a landmark ruling, at issue, discrimination or diversity. The nation's highest court is expected to decide whether it's fair or legal to give one student preference over another based solely on race.
CNN national correspondent Bob Franken tells us how this issue made it all the way to the Supreme Court.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BOB FRANKEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The racially charged affirmative action issue has been hotly disputed for decades.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The opportunities for people, such as myself, that hope, that dream, that actually want to have a different life, to be able to help people, that the opportunity will not be there. It just won't be there.
FRANKEN: Jennifer Gratz says she was harmed by the affirmative action programs at the University of Michigan.
JENNIFER GRATZ, PLAINTIFF: I think definitely I'm not a racist. I'm standing up for the exact opposite of racism.
FRANKEN: She challenged her rejection by Michigan's undergraduate program saying she was turned down because a point system favoring minorities used illegal quotas. Her case was joined by another from two other white students who attacked admission policies at the university's highly selective law school. It was up to the court to wrestle with the age-old issue after leaving things very confused in 1978 by its so-called Bachy Ruling (ph) in the University of California case. Bachy stated quotas were unconstitutional but race could be considered.
ANTHONY KENNEDY, U.S. SUPREME COURT JUSTICE: I have to say that in looking at your program, it looks to me like this is just a disguised quota.
FRANKEN: For only the second time, the justices immediately released an audiotape of the arguments. And for every comment from them that questioned affirmative action was another arguing Michigan was well within its rights to achieve diversity by choosing some students over others.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Because they play the bassoon, because they belong to a minority race. Because, in the days that when I went to law school, they are female.
FRANKEN: It was an effort, argued the university's lawyer, to reach a critical mass of underrepresented groups.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Critical mass is when you have enough of those students so they feel comfortable acting as individuals.
FRANKEN: But the Bush administration says critical mass is just another name for quotas.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This plan violates every standard that this court has set for the examination of racial preferences.
FRANKEN: Bob Franken, CNN, the Supreme Court.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Week>
Aired June 23, 2003 - 05:02 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: We begin with what will likely be a landmark ruling, at issue, discrimination or diversity. The nation's highest court is expected to decide whether it's fair or legal to give one student preference over another based solely on race.
CNN national correspondent Bob Franken tells us how this issue made it all the way to the Supreme Court.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BOB FRANKEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The racially charged affirmative action issue has been hotly disputed for decades.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The opportunities for people, such as myself, that hope, that dream, that actually want to have a different life, to be able to help people, that the opportunity will not be there. It just won't be there.
FRANKEN: Jennifer Gratz says she was harmed by the affirmative action programs at the University of Michigan.
JENNIFER GRATZ, PLAINTIFF: I think definitely I'm not a racist. I'm standing up for the exact opposite of racism.
FRANKEN: She challenged her rejection by Michigan's undergraduate program saying she was turned down because a point system favoring minorities used illegal quotas. Her case was joined by another from two other white students who attacked admission policies at the university's highly selective law school. It was up to the court to wrestle with the age-old issue after leaving things very confused in 1978 by its so-called Bachy Ruling (ph) in the University of California case. Bachy stated quotas were unconstitutional but race could be considered.
ANTHONY KENNEDY, U.S. SUPREME COURT JUSTICE: I have to say that in looking at your program, it looks to me like this is just a disguised quota.
FRANKEN: For only the second time, the justices immediately released an audiotape of the arguments. And for every comment from them that questioned affirmative action was another arguing Michigan was well within its rights to achieve diversity by choosing some students over others.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Because they play the bassoon, because they belong to a minority race. Because, in the days that when I went to law school, they are female.
FRANKEN: It was an effort, argued the university's lawyer, to reach a critical mass of underrepresented groups.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Critical mass is when you have enough of those students so they feel comfortable acting as individuals.
FRANKEN: But the Bush administration says critical mass is just another name for quotas.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This plan violates every standard that this court has set for the examination of racial preferences.
FRANKEN: Bob Franken, CNN, the Supreme Court.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Week>
