“Wygant”

476 U.S. 267 (1986), declared affirmative action an appropriate means to remedy past racial discrimination in hiring and employment. Ironically, the Court ordered in this case that a Jackson, Mississippi, school board reinstate several senior white teachers who had been dismissed to make room for newly hired black teachers, arguing that the board had failed to show a significant history of bias; had it done so, affirmative action would have been appropriate. In two similar cases the following year, the Court upheld the constitutionality of a one black–one white promotion quota (United States v. Paradise, 480 U.S. 149 (1987)) and the promotion of a woman over a man who scored higher on a job-qualification test (Johnson v. Transportation Agency, Santa Clara County, 480 U.S. 616 (1987)).