For nearly 30 years, California residents have been in a pitched battle with their state government to oppose efforts to divvy them up by their race. In 1996, Californians voted to amend their constitution to prohibit the state from discriminating in employment, education, and contracting on the basis of race and other immutable characteristics. The 55% to 45% vote on Ballot Proposition 209 (Prop 209) was a major victory for colorblind equal opportunity for all Californians. The Center for Equal Opportunity (CEO) was involved in advocating for that successful nearly three-decade-old campaign and in opposing every attempt since to overturn it, including the Prop 16 initiative that was rejected by California voters just three years ago in November 2020.
Alas, California legislators are again endeavoring to undo the will of Californians who have voted time and again, and in large numbers, against race discrimination by their state government. And, once again, CEO is back in the battle.
A new effort called “ACA-7” purports to create a mechanism under which the governor of California can declare “exceptions” to Prop 209. These exceptions can and likely will swallow the rule. As long as there is some “research” that purports to find that an exception would be beneficial, the governor can disregard the California constitution’s ban on race discrimination. As CEO well knows, one can find “research” to support just about anything. Thus, voters are being asked via ACA-7 to essentially pre-approve exceptions to Prop 209 without knowing what those exceptions will be. We believe that is a recipe for unrestricted race discrimination in the country’s most populous state. Therefore, CEO sent earlier this month the following letter to all 40 California lawmakers in Senate leadership to oppose ACA-7:
As we have done many times before, CEO will see this battle through to the end. We hope that you will join us in opposing this newest effort by California to upend equal protection for all. To learn more about the broader effort, we encourage you to visit the website www.noonaca7.org/ and to join the growing coalition of those opposed to ACA-7. You can also support the part of the campaign being waged on social media by our friend, USD Prof. and USCCR Commissioner Gail Heriot, by visiting this link: https://twitter.com/GailHeriot
