Although California’s constitution bars the government from discriminating against or granting preferences to individuals or groups on the basis of race in government employment, education, or contracting, proponents of race-based policies still resist obeying the law.
Last October, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, who swore to uphold the constitution, signed into law a bill that directs state departments to award government contracts to the lowest responsible bidder subcontracting 15 percent of the work to minority-owned businesses and five percent to female-owned businesses. The contractor who fails to do so will be rejected, even if he’s the lowest bidder.
The Pacific Legal Foundation (PLF) filed suit against the state, alleging that the law violated Article I, Section 31. Ward Connerly, who led the Prop. 209 campaign, was named as a plaintiff. Good news from PLF:
“The tentative ruling (DOC) by the court agreed with all of PLF’s arguments. The Court said that the state could not survive by refusing to enforce statutes that were facially unconstitutional. Furthermore, the Court noted that several of the statutes that we were challenging were not covered by the Court of Appeal’s decision, so there was no possible way that the state could refuse to enforce them, and there was no possible way they could be read in a constitutional way. The Court also rejected the State’s argument that the uncodified section of the Bill indicated the State’s unwillingness to enforce the statutes. The Court noted that such language ‘cannot be used to create a meaning that cannot be found in the unambiguous statutory language itself.’”
Incredibly, the state agreed the quota bill was unconstitutional. The language in the state constitution is plain, but it seems preferences proponents are hoping California voters develop amnesia.
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