California Civil Rights Initiative

Abstract

In her letter of 23 August (p. [p. 1031][1]), Lucy Johns repeats the charge that a clause in the California Civil Rights Initiative (CCRI) “drastically dilutes protection against discrimination by gender.” This charge, an effort to defeat the CCRI, is simply untrue. In an open letter to the people of California, 26 of the most distinguished constitutional lawyers in the country, some in favor of and some opposed to the CCRI, were prompted by this charge to go on record as saying so ([1][2]). The letter includes the following statements. > The CCRI is a general ban on a wide range of sex classifications: “The state shall not discriminate against, or grant preferential treatment to, any individual or group on the basis of race, sex, color, ethnicity, or national origin in the operation of public employment, public education, or public contracting.” > > But clause (c) says that “Nothing in this section shall be interpreted as prohibiting bona fide qualifications based on sex which are reasonably necessary to the normal operation of public employment, public education, or public contracting.” … > > The [bona fide qualifications] proviso doesn't set up some weak “reasonableness test.” It allows only those sex classifications that pass both the existing California constitutional tests and fit within the very narrow area of bona fide qualifications. And it avoids the problems that a total ban on sex classifications might cause: The law shouldn't, for instance, require that the state let male guards do strip searches of female jail inmates. Likewise, the law shouldn't require high school girls' basketball teams to allow boys to participate. The signers end on the following note. > We welcome honest, thoughtful debate on affirmative action. But we oppose erroneous statements such as those made about clause (c). 1. 1.[↵][3] The complete letter and the names of the signers can be found at World Wide Web site . [1]: /lookup/doi/10.1126/science.273.5278.1029d [2]: #ref-1 [3]: #xref-ref-1-1 View reference 1. in text