By AFRO Staff
Affirmative action opponent Ward Connerly led the defeated Missouri initiative to end the practice. (Courtesy Photo)
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(June 28, 2009) - A Missouri state court late Friday ruled against a proposed ballot initiative that would have amended the state’s constitution and outlawed equal opportunity programs.
The lawsuit was brought by the American Civil Liberties Union in December against a ballot initiative proposed by the Missouri Civil Rights Initiative. The suit charged that the proposed measure should not be circulated for signatures because it could lead to confusion among voters.
“The language certified by the secretary of state did not make clear what its impact would be on the Missouri Constitution as required by law,” Anthony Rothert, Legal Director of the ACLU of Eastern Missouri, said in a release. “The law makes clear that voters must be given notice of what they are being asked to vote on. The initiative in this case failed to do that and was likely to cause significant confusion on Election Day.”
The Missouri effort is the latest chapter in a nationwide series of challenges to affirmative action coordinated by Ward Connerly, a Black Republican political activist. Connerly is the founder and chairman of the American Civil Rights Institute, which is opposed to racial and gender preferences; the Missouri Civil Rights Initiative’s Web site lists Connerly as a “mentor” and includes a biography of him.
In the 2008 elections, Connerly’s organization sought to pass anti-affirmative action measures in five states similar to that struck down by Missouri, via spinoff organizations similar to the Missouri Civil Rights Initiative. In three states the measure failed to make it onto the ballot, voters in Colorado rejected the initiative, while those in Nebraska passed it. A similar proposal was passed by Michigan voters in 2006.
The measure would have appeared on the November 2010 ballot. The Missouri group said it did not seek to end affirmative action based on economic need, but would instead only bar the government from giving preferential treatment to individuals based on their race or sex.
“The [measure] would in no way prohibit or alter affirmative action programs that identify socio-economic conditions as a factor in determining program status,” the group said on its Web site. “Such programs benefit every “disadvantaged" individual regardless of race.”
But Cole County, Missouri Circuit Court Judge Richard Callahan sided with the ACLU’s argument that the proposed law attempted to mislead voters by telling them that it was intended to uphold equal opportunity programs.
An appeal by the state or by the measure’s supporters is possible. Otherwise, the measure could be revised and resubmitted to the Missouri Secretary of State for inclusion on next year’s ballot.
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