The making of reverse discrimination : how Defunis and Bakke bleached racism from equal protection

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Messer-Davidow, Ellen, 1941- author

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"As universities were instituting affirmative action in the early 1970s, two white men challenged race-conscious admissions at professional schools. The now-famous cases of DeFunis v. Odegaard (197...

"As universities were instituting affirmative action in the early 1970s, two white men challenged race-conscious admissions at professional schools. The now-famous cases of DeFunis v. Odegaard (1971-1974) and Regents of the University of California v. Bakke (1974-1978)-which opened the door to reverse discrimination-have been the subject of extensive analysis. Most of the voluminous literature has focused on the Court's far from definitive answers to important constitutional questions and only briefly summarized the facts disclosed at trial. But these factual records deserve more critical scrutiny than they have so far received. In The Making of Reverse Discrimination, Ellen Messer-Davidow restores to these two cases the facts that were omitted from or distorted during the trials, showing how the attorneys used the deficient factual record to construct reverse-discrimination complaints. In addition to examining the wider social and historical context, she provides a close analysis of the briefs, opinions, arguments, and dissents to uncover the flawed logic at the heart of these cases. Her study is an eye-opening look at the way the law and language were manipulated to devise racialized narratives that undermined the interests of minorities. The result is more than just a deconstruction of these two cases and a genealogy of reverse discrimination-though it is certainly that. Messer-Davidow uncovers the way contemporary legal discourse itself makes possible, indeed inevitable, the disappearance of systemic racism under the cover of purportedly neutral principles of law. She further shows how this legal occlusion of racism has been disseminated through conservative networks and organizations, creating the culture-war environment that currently hobbles societal efforts to address structural injustice"--

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