In the 1970s and 1980s, programs assisting and preferring businesses owned by women and certain minority group members mushroomed at every level of government. For most of this period, they remained relatively uncontroversial and almost totally unstudied. In 1989, however, the Supreme Court in City of Richmond v. Croson invalidated the use of racial classifications in local public contracting programs unless they were used as temporary narrowly tailored remedies for identified discrimination. Croson has triggered a flurry of litigation across the country and an avalanche of studies commissioned to help jurisdictions preserve their minority business programs. The outcome of the conflict over these programs may define the limits of using racial classifications in a variety of public policy areas.
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2. 488 U.S. 469 (1989).
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3. Daniel Levinson, “A Study of Preferential Treatment: The Evolution of Minority Business Enterprise Assistance Programs,”George Washington Law Review, 49:61, 70-71 (1980).
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5. Tom Ichniowski, “Justice by the Number,”ENR, 2 Sept. 1991, p. 26.
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6. For a current list of federal set-asides, see Mark Eddy, Federal Programs for Minority and Women-Owned Businesses (Washington, DC: Congressional Research Service, 1990), pp. CRS-10-11, tab. 4, p. 7.
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10. Ibid., p. 519.
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11. Ibid., p. 540.
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15. Ibid., p. 3015.
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16. Ibid., p. 3029.
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17. Ibid., p. 3045.
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Timothy Bates , “Impact of Preferential Procurement Policies on Minority-Owned Businesses,”Review of Black Political Economy, Summer 1985, pp. 51, 54.
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25. U.S., Department of Commerce, Minority Business Development Agency, internal study memo, Feb. 1984, figure reprinted in James H. Lowry, “Set-Aside Programs: Viable Vehicles for Change or Threats to the Free Enterprise System?” in Selected Affirmative Action Topics in Employment and Business Set-Asides (Washington, DC: Commission on Civil Rights, 1985), 1:119.
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29. John Hurst and Ronald B. Taylor, “Fraction of Indian Blood Worth Millions in Business,”Los Angeles Times 27 Dec. 1990.
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32. U.S., Senate, Committee on Governmental Affairs, Hearings to Amend the Civil Rights Act of 1964: Permitting Set-Asides, 101st Cong., 2d sess., 16 May 1990.
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35. The problem is discussed in Associated General Contractors of California v. City and County of San Francisco, 813 F.2d 922, 932 (9th Cir. 1987).
