California Attorney General Says State's Ban on Equal Opportunity Is "Unconstitutional"

April 30, 2009 - Posted by Tyler Lewis

In a letter to the California Supreme Court, California Attorney General Jerry Brown said that implementation of the state's ban on equal opportunity to outlaw race- and gender-conscious programs and initiatives is unconstitutional because it creates "an unequal political structure based on race and gender."

"Ironically, by effectively disadvantaging racial minorities and women in the political process, without an evident compelling governmental reason for doing so, Section 31 seems to accomplish the very evil it purported to eliminate, viz. racial and gender discrimination," said Brown, in the letter.

Article 1, Section 31 of the California Constitution is based on the language of Proposition 209, a constitutional amendment voted into law by the state's voters in 1996 that bans the consideration of race, gender, ethnicity, and national origin in public hiring, contracting, and admissions to public colleges and universities.

The letter was filed after the court requested the state's opinion in Coral Construction v. City and County of San Francisco. The case, before the court now, was filed by white-owned construction companies claiming that a San Francisco ordinance designed to increase minority- and women-owned businesses' access to city contracts violates Section 31.

Brown's letter (PDF).