This case goes back to the issue of affirmative action and whether it gives an unfair advantage to minorities. Allen Bakke was a 33 year old white male who was trying to get into the university California medical school and was denied entry in 1973. He applied again next year and was rejected even though he had considerably higher test grades than the minorities accepted for a special program the university had in place. The program reserved 16 out of the 100 spots solely for minorities. Bakke felt that he was being discriminated against because of his race. So he took his case to the superior court of California. They ruled that race could not be a factor in admissions but did not force him in because they could not prove that he would have been accepted if the university didn’t have the special program."Bakke was the most significant civil rights case to reach
the United States Supreme Court since Brown v. Board the
Education of Topeka, Kansas."4 The special admissions
program at Davis tried to further integrate the higher
education system because merely removing the barriers, as
the Brown case did, did not always work. Frustrated with the decision, Bakke took his case to the California Supreme Court. The Court ruled that it was the University's burden to prove that Bakke would not have been accepted if the special program was not in effect. The School could not meet this condition and Bakke was admitted by court’s order. But the University of California filed for certiorari which is document filed by the losing party to take the case to the Supreme Court to review the decision.