Constitutional Law

Colo. Voters Defeat Anti-Equal Opportunity Ballot Measure; Neb. Voters Support Ban On Affirmative Action Policy

Colorado voters defeated an anti-equal opportunity ballot initiative on Election Day, the Rocky Mountain News reported. The ballot measure, Amendment 46, pushed by Californian Ward Connerly was aimed at eliminating affirmative action programs in the state. Melissa Hart, associate professor of law at the University of Colorado Law School and leader of the effort to defeat Amendment 46, described its demise as a “great testament to the people of Colorado.” Earlier this year, ACS released an Issue Brief by Hart on the effort in Colorado and other states to eliminate affirmative action. Hart’s Issue Brief, The State-by-State Assault on Equal Opportunity, is available here. 

Voters in Nebraska, however, easily passed an anti-equal opportunity ballot measure. Initiative 424 prohibits state and local governments from using affirmative action programs. The Associated Press reported that a lawsuit is pending in state court challenging the validity of the signatures that placed the measure before voters. 

Full post as published by ACS Blog on November 07, 2008 (boomark / email).