Regents of the University of California V. Bakke

In 1978 Alan Bakke, a white student applying to the medical school of UC Davis, was rejected admission. He was not admitted to the school even though he had better test scores than the minority students applying. The minority students had a different criteria for admission than white students. After getting rejected from the medical school, Bakke sued the college. He took the case to the Supreme Court citing a violation of the 14th Amendment with equal protection under the law. The court sided with Bakke in a 5 to 4 decision. They ruled that the separate criteria was a violation of the 14th Amendment. I think the court made the right decision in this case. Just because someone is of a different ethnicity doesn't mean they should be held at different standards. That seems racist in itself to think that a person of color would be held at a lower standard and be more easily admitted to a college. This decision was the predecessor to affirmative action which is being heavily debated now.


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