Analyses employment implications of civil rights laws such as Title VII and Executive Order 11246, and identifies the types of affirmative action allowable under the Order. Includes a section on the constitutionality of government requirements that a certain percentage of government-funded contracts be set aside for enterprises owned by women or members of minority groups.

This guide to the literature presents 451 descriptions of books, reports and articles dealing with all aspects of affirmative action including: Race relations; Economic aspects; Reverse discrimination; Preferences; Affirmative Action programs: Public opinion; Court decisions; Education and many more. Complete author and subject indexes are provided.

A quarter-century after the enactment of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, its legacy remains controversial. The statutory language intended to ensure equal opportunity to all individuals is now interpreted as authorizing both public and private employers to adopt preferential policies that benefit designated groups based on race and gender. Much the same transformation has occurred in federal contract programs: President Kennedy's executive order that required equal employment opportunity is now understood as mandating minority hiring with numerical goals tantamount to quotas. Herman Belz's "Equality Transformed: A Quarter-Century of Affirmative Action "traces this transformation of equality and how it was brought about by courts, regulatory agencies, and activists. The early champions of civil rights sought to eradicate impediments to advancement for the downtrodden; the ultimate aim was to create a truly colorblind society. Over the years, this goal, while still professed, became even more elusive. Preferences, goals, and timetables - "temporary" means for the attainment of a nondiscriminatory society - seemed to undermine that noble quest. "Equality Transformed "provides a textured history of affirmative action and its effects upon race relations and our democratic, egalitarian ideals. In recent years, under the impetus of the Reagan Justice Department, the Supreme Court has backed away, however hesitantly, from its earlier sympathy towards race-conscious remedies and preferential treatment. Belz's analysis of recent Supreme Court cases and their antecedents allows us to better understand both the tensions in our society and the fury that the Court has triggered with its recent civil rights pronouncements. Belz makes a strong case for hewing to a forward-looking rather than a backward-looking approach to eradicating discrimination. Anyone interested in the history, law, theory, or morality of affirmative action in employment will find "Equality Transformed "invaluable.

Affirmative action has been and continues to be a volatile, complex, and hotly debated issue. In this volume, Ronald Turner provides a comprehensive resource and guide through the maze of preferential treatment doctrine, U.S. Supreme Court decisions relating to affirmative action, and agency regulations and practices. Rather than focus on the moral or constitutional issues involved, Turner seeks to provide an objective analysis of the evolution of the legal concept of affirmative action--to describe what the law has actually meant in practice rather than judge whether affirmative action is either right or wrong, constitutional or unconstitutional. To this end, Turner defines and examines what affirmative action was in the early 1970s when the concept was first enshrined in law and explores how the Supreme Court is now interpreting the concept. He also discusses cases involving set-aside programs and analyzes other federal and state government programs in which constitutional principles and Executive Orders remain untouched by the Supreme Court's recent conservative rulings. Following an introductory chapter in which he reviews the basic issues involved in the affirmative action debate, Turner discusses the origins and development of the affirmative action concept. He then examines affirmative action in the employment jurisprudence of the U.S. Supreme Court and the application of the Court's rulings by the lower courts in selected cases. The requirements of Executive Order 11246 and its implementing regulations and the impact of the order on federal contractors are detailed in a separate chapter. Turner also offers a brief treatment of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission's affirmative action guidelines. Finally, the author explores the judicial review of minority and women business enterprise programs, with particular emphasis on the Supreme Court's 1989 ruling which invalidated a minority business enterprise statute enacted by the City of Richmond, Virginia. By thoroughly analyzing the record of the courts and legislative and administrative initiatives in affirmative action, this book offers guidelines and information which will be invaluable to all segments of the labor management community involved in and responsible for affirmative action and preferential treatment of minorities and women.

At the intersection of law and politics stands the U.S. Solicitor General. Although even the informed public rarely thinks of the solicitor general in relation to the major issues that have challenged American society, this office actually has considerable control over the cases the Supreme Court addresses. To bring the Office of Solicitor General (OSG) out of the shadows and into the clear light of public attention, Between Law and Politics looks at three hotly contested policy areas—race, gender, and reproductive rights—to see how the office balances the goals of the president, Congress, and the Supreme Court. The OSG is charged with helping the Supreme Court build a coherent doctrine and imposing some stability on the law. At the same time, the solicitor general is a presidential appointee. Deciding which cases to appeal, arguing those cases before the Supreme Court, and filing friendofthecourt briefs means the solicitor general plays an important role in furthering the policy objections of the current administration. Therein lies the tension between law and politics that is at the heart of the calculations the solicitor general makes on a daily basis. Using interviews with solicitors general and their staffs, members of the Department of Justice, and others, and analyzing Supreme Court cases beginning with the Truman administration, Richard Pacelle shows how the OSG balances the competing forces in its environment. His analysis is undergirded by aggregate analysis of the data gathered. This detailed and systematic study will be of great interest to those who study the Supreme Court, the presidency, and public policy. It is unique in its close examination of a number of particular areas of law and the strength and persuasiveness of its analysis of the competing constituencies that face the Office of the Solicitor General. The timeliness and controversial nature of the policy areas Pacelle examines give the book further importance to students of American politics.

Racism in Contemporary America is the largest and most up-to-date bibliography available on current research on the topic. It has been compiled by award-winning researcher Meyer Weinberg, who has spent many years writing and researching contemporary and historical aspects of racism. Almost 15,000 entries to books, articles, dissertations, and other materials are organized under 87 subject-headings. In addition, there are author and ethnic-racial indexes. Several aids help the researcher access the materials included. In addition to the subject organization of the bibliography, entries are annotated whenever the title is not self-explanatory. An author index is followed by an ethnic-racial index which makes it convenient to follow a single group through any or all the subject headings. This is a source book for the serious study of America's most enduring problem; as such it will be of value to students and researchers at all levels and in most disciplines.

Affirmative action is still a reality of the American workplace. How is it that such a controversial Federal program has managed to endure for more than five decades? Inside Affirmative Action addresses this question. Beyond the usual ideological debate and discussions about the effects of affirmative action for either good or ill upon issues of race and gender in employment, this book recounts and analyzes interviews with people who worked in the program within the government including political appointees. The interviews and their historical context provide understanding and insight into the policies and politics of affirmative action and its role in advancing civil rights in America. Recent books published on affirmative action address university admissions, but very few of them ever mention Executive Order 11246 or its enforcement by an agency within the Department of Labor - let alone discuss in depth the profound workplace diversity it has created or the employment opportunities it has generated. This book charts that history through the eyes of those who experienced it. Inside Affirmative Action will be of interest to those who study American race relations, policy, history and law.