<P> Allan P. Bakke (/ ˈbɑːkiː /), an engineer and former United States Marine Corps officer, sought admission to medical school, but was rejected for admission by several due in part to his age . Bakke was in his early 30s while applying, and therefore considered too old by at least two institutions . After twice being rejected by the University of California, Davis, he brought suit in state court . The California Supreme Court struck down the program as violative of the rights of white applicants and ordered Bakke admitted . The U.S. Supreme Court accepted the case amid wide public attention . </P> <P> The case fractured the court; the nine justices issued a total of six opinions . The judgment of the court was written by Justice Lewis F. Powell Jr.; two different blocs of four justices joined various parts of Powell's opinion . Finding diversity in the classroom to be a compelling state interest, Powell opined that affirmative action in general was allowed under the Constitution and the Civil Rights Act of 1964 . Nevertheless, UC Davis's program went too far for a majority of justices, and it was struck down and Bakke admitted . The practical effect of Bakke was that most affirmative action programs continued without change . Questions about whether the Bakke case was merely a plurality opinion or binding precedent were answered in 2003 when the court upheld Powell's position in a majority opinion in Grutter v. Bollinger . </P> <P> In Brown v. Board of Education (1954), the Supreme Court of the United States ruled segregation by race in public schools to be unconstitutional . In the following fifteen years, the court issued landmark rulings in cases involving race and civil liberties, but left supervision of the desegregation of Southern schools mostly to lower courts . Among other progressive legislation, Congress passed the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Title VI of which forbids racial discrimination in any program or activity receiving federal funding . By 1968, integration of public schools was well advanced . In that year, the Supreme Court revisited the issue of school desegregation in Green v. County School Board, ruling that it was not enough to eliminate racially discriminatory practices; state governments were under an obligation to actively work to desegregate schools . The school board in Green had allowed children to attend any school, but few chose to attend those dominated by another race . In 1970, in Swann v. Charlotte - Mecklenburg Board of Education, the Supreme Court upheld an order for busing of students to desegregate a school system . </P> <P> Although public universities were integrated by court decree, selective colleges and graduate programs, and the professions which stemmed from them, remained almost all white . Many African - Americans had attended inferior schools and were ill - prepared to compete in the admissions process . This was unsatisfactory to many activists of the late 1960s, who protested that given the African - American's history of discrimination and poverty, some preference should be given to minorities . This became a commonly held liberal position, and large numbers of public and private universities began affirmative action programs . Among these were the University of California, Davis School of Medicine (UC Davis or "the university"), which was founded in 1968 and had an all - white inaugural class . The faculty was concerned by this, and the school began a special admissions program "to compensate victims of unjust societal discrimination". The application form contained a question asking if the student wished to be considered disadvantaged, and, if so, these candidates were screened by a special committee, on which more than half the members were from minority groups . Initially, the entering class was 50 students, and eight seats were put aside for minorities; when the class size doubled in 1971, there were 16 seats which were to be filled by candidates recommended by the special committee . While nominally open to whites, no one of that race was admitted under the program, which was unusual in that a specific number of seats were to be filled by candidates through this program . </P>

The central issue in the regents of the university of california v. bakke case was