<Tr> <Td> <Ul> <Li> </Li> <Li> </Li> <Li> </Li> </Ul> </Td> </Tr> <Ul> <Li> </Li> <Li> </Li> <Li> </Li> </Ul> <P> Affirmative action policies were developed to address long histories of discrimination faced by minorities and women, which reports suggest produced corresponding unfair advantages for whites and males . They first emerged from debates over non-discrimination policies in the 1940s and during the Civil Rights Movement . These debates led to federal executive orders requiring non-discrimination in the employment policies of some government agencies and contractors in the 1940s onwards, and to Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 which prohibited racial discrimination in firms with over 25 employees . The first federal policy of race - conscious affirmative action was the Revised Philadelphia Plan, which required government contractors to set "goals and timetables" for integrating and diversifying their workforce . Similar policies began to emerge through a mix of voluntary practices and federal and state policies in employment and education . Affirmative action as a practice was partially upheld by the Supreme Court in Grutter v. Bollinger (2003), while the use of racial or gender quotas for college admissions was concurrently ruled unconstitutional by the Court in Gratz v. Bollinger (2003). </P> <P> Affirmative action is a subject of controversy in American politics . Opponents of affirmative action argue that these policies are outdated and lead to reverse discrimination which entails favoring one group over another based upon racial preference rather than achievement, and many believe that the diversity of current American society suggests that affirmative action policies succeeded and are no longer required . Some policies adopted as affirmative action, such as racial quotas or gender quotas, have been criticized as a form of reverse discrimination . Scholars have also questioned whether quota systems and "targeted goals" can be clearly distinguished from each other . </P>

When did the new approach of affirmative action emerge in america