A Conflict of Rights: The Supreme Court and Affirmative Action

In a lucid and dramatic account of an affirmative action case, Urofsky ( A Mind of One's Own ), professor of constitutional law at Virginia Commonwealth University, examines not only the specific history and broad philosophical bases of the case, but its long-term impact on individual lives. He records how a gender discrimination case, which concerned two equally qualified applicants--Diane Joyce and Paul Johnson--for a job as a road dispatcher on a California highway, made its way to the Supreme Court, where in 1987 it was decided in favor of the woman. While this was the first time affirmative action was extended to women as a group, and to public employees, the author points out that today, with an increasingly conservative court, affirmative action still remains an issue in contention. (Feb.)