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Affirmative Action
Affirmative action is generally considered a remedy to past forms of legal or illegal discrimination. Typically, it can apply to race, ethnic origin, and gender. Affirmative action differentiated itself from reparations in the sense that an individual must engage or attempt to engage in some act or activity to receive affirmative action benefits.
While the first arguments in favor of affirmative actions appeared in the nineteenth century, the first government policies originated from an executive order signed by President John F. Kennedy in 1961.
One of the persistent problems with our understanding of the Constitutionality of affirmative action results from bitter divisions between the justices on the Court. Quite simply, since Bakke, the constitutionality of affirmative action is dependent on the views of a single "swing" or "pivotal" justice.
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