Reading Room Document

Legal Guidance on the Implications of the Supreme Court's Decision in Adarand Constructors, Inc. v. Peña

This memorandum sets forth preliminary legal guidance on the implications of the Supreme Court's decision in Adarand Constructors, Inc. v. Peña, which held that "strict scrutiny'' is the standard that governs judicial review of the constitutionality of federal affirmative action programs that use racial and ethnic criteria as a basis for decisionmaking. The memorandum is not intended to serve as a definitive statement of what Adarand means for any particular affirmative action program; rather, it is intended to provide a general overview of the Court's decision and the application of the strict scrutiny standard in the context of affirmative action. The OLC does not provide release dates for its opinions, so the release date listed is the date on which the opinion was authored. The original opinion is available at www.justice.gov/file/20201/download.

June 28, 1995