White Cases Lacked Merit, Report Says Reverse Discrimination Given Appropriate Relief By Courts

Affirmative action has caused very few claims of reverse discrimination by white people, says a Labor Department draft report. The author says his findings poke holes in the theory that it unfairly boosts minorities at the expense of white workers.

The report, prepared by Rutgers University law professor Alfred W. Blumrosen, found fewer than 100 reverse discrimination cases among more than 3,000 discrimination opinions by U.S. District Courts and Courts of Appeal between 1990 and 1994.

A “high proportion” of the reverse discrimination claims lacked merit, the review found. Reverse discrimination was established in six cases, and the courts provided appropriate relief in those cases, it said.

“This research suggests that the problem of ‘reverse discrimination’ is not widespread; and that where it exists, the courts have given relief,” Blumrosen wrote. “Nothing in these cases would justify dismantling the existing structure of equal employment opportunity programs.”

The report, prepared for the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs, came as the White House is reviewing affirmative action.