Charging that a new California law, AB 703, “is probably the most egregious and arrogant display of power on the part of a legislative body that I’ve ever seen,” Ward Connerly has filed a lawsuit to block its enforcement.
As you all will recall (there’s that word again), Californians passed Proposition 209 in 1996, adding to the state constitution a provision barring the consideration of race by state agencies in hiring, contracting, college admissions, etc. Supporters of AB 703 claim that Prop. 209 didn’t define discrimination, and that this new legislation merely fills that gap.
AB 703 uses a definition of discrimination that stemmed from the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination and was part of a treaty adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 1965.
The definition states, consistent with the U.N. treaty, that “special measures” taken on behalf of underrepresented groups are not necessarily discriminatory.
Specifically, the measure exempts “special measures taken for the sole purpose of securing adequate advancement of certain racial or ethnic groups or individuals requiring such protection as may be necessary in order to ensure (them) equal enjoyment or exercise of human rights and fundamental freedoms.”
Russell Lopez, a spokesman for Governor Davis, said the new law merely clarfies Proposition 209 without changing it. “All this does is clarify to everyone what racial discrimination is,” he said.
With equal accuracy it could be said that the recall initiative merely seeks to clarify the terms of Gov. Davis’s employment without changing them.
