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State’s Race-Based Medical Scholarships Violate Proposition 209

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News Release, Pacific Legal Foundation, October 12, 2009

News Release
Contact: Joshua P. Thompson
Attorney
Pacific Legal Foundation
jpt@pacificlegal.org
(916) 419-7111

SACRAMENTO, CA; October 12, 2009: Pacific Legal Foundation announced today that a Sacramento Superior Court judge has struck down the racially discriminatory elements of a state health-professional scholarship program.

Judge Rudolph Loncke’s ruling, in a case brought by PLF attorneys, allows the state to continue awarding health related scholarships, but without any preferences or discrimination by race. The case is titled Smith v. CA Health and Human Services Agency.

The ruling concerns the “Health Professions Education Foundation,” an entity established by the Legislature under Health and Safety Code Section 128330 to award scholarships and loans for study in medicine, nursing, or dentistry. The PLF lawsuit was launched because the program used race in deciding who would get the scholarships, specifying favoritism for “underrepresented minorities.”

As Judge Loncke ruled, this race-based provision violated Proposition 209 (Article I, Section 31(a) of the California Constitution). Enacted by voters in 1996, Proposition 209 prohibits discrimination or preferences by race or sex in public education programs (as well as in public contracting and employment).

PLF is the nation’s leading legal watchdog that litigates against government discrimination and preferences by race and sex, and has been the primary enforcer of Proposition 209 in California courts.

“This ruling recognizes that government should not make distinctions between people on the basis of their skin color when it awards benefits or assistance,” said PLF attorney Joshua P. Thompson. “Treating everyone equally, without regard to race, is what fairness demands—and what the California Constitution commands.”

The scholarship program has been on the books since 1996, before the enactment of Proposition 209. “In a sense, this legal case amounts to statutory cleanup,” said PLF’s Thompson. “We’re making sure that nothing remains on the statute books that contradicts the will of the voters as expressed in Proposition 209, which ordered that the state cannot discriminate” he said.

PLF attorneys represented James Smith, a Madera County nurse who was unsuccessful in seeking a scholarship under the challenged program. Mr. Smith filed the lawsuit in his capacity as a California taxpayer objecting to discriminatory, unconstitutional policies in state government.

This case, invalidating the state’s race-based medical scholarships as violating Proposition 209, is titled Smith v. CA Health and Human Services Agency. Judge Loncke’s signed order is available at PLF’s Web site: www.pacificlegal.org.

About Pacific Legal Foundation

Pacific Legal Foundation (www.pacificlegal.org) is the oldest and most successful public interest legal organization that litigates for property rights, limited government, and a balanced approach to environmental protection, in courts across the country.

Original article

(Posted on October 13, 2009)

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Comments

1 — Anonymous wrote at 11:46 PM on October 13:

Unfortunately, this will not be the end of discriminatory practices in California, or the rest of America, when it comes to medical school preferences.

If you read the proposed health care reform bill before Congress, you’ll find that it’s full of race based medical hiring and medical school student preferences for Blacks and Hispanics. No matter how superior White’s or Asian’s perform academically, or are qualified for a position, they will be discriminated against at both the Federal and State levels when applying to medical school or medical employment positions.

The first time I read the health care bill I was shocked. It’s one of the most racist pieces of legislation I’ve seen. The Government’s attempt to have a racially diverse medical society, by lowering standards for Blacks and Hispanics, is very dangerous to the public. Do you really want someone operating on you that should never have been admitted to medical school in the first place? If you’re scheduled for surgery, and a black or Hispanic doctor walks in with a scalpel in hand, get off the table and run like hell!

2 — Bon, Tax Slave of Kalifornia wrote at 8:55 AM on October 14:

“…PLF is the nation’s leading legal watchdog that litigates against government discrimination and preferences by race and sex, and has been the primary enforcer of Proposition 209 in California courts…”

PLF is doing a yeoman’s job in California enforcing Prop 209, defending private property rights, fighting rulings that favor insects and fish over humans and battling lefty lawyers and judges everywhere.

At the moment they are presenting oral arguments in Federal Court about a judge’s ruling that a smll, non-commercial fish has more right to water than millions of humans:

“…The Delta smelt is a fragile fish about the size of an adult’s little finger.

Mindful of the ESA’s mandate to preserve listed species at ‘whatever the costs,’ in late 2007, federal district Judge Oliver Wanger of Fresno ordered the state and federal pumps shut off whenever young smelt were in the vicinity. This ESA-driven ruling reduced Delta water exports through the pumps by 30 percent during 2008, caused an estimated hit to the state’s economy of $300 million, and, according to the California Water Agencies, amounted to ‘the most drastic cut ever to California water … the biggest impact anywhere, nationwide.’

as of March 15, 255,802 acre-feet – beyond that required to prevent excessive salt-water intrusion from San Francisco Bay – were allowed to flow to the ocean to comply with the ESA-mandated Delta smelt ruling. This wasted water could have put 85,000 acres of farmland back into production, reduced the 40 percent unemployment rate in some Central Valley towns and softened the blow of water rationing in other areas… all in an effort to preserve the Delta smelt…”

http://tinyurl.com/ygmmblb

The PLF is a fantastic organization fighting for common sense—in California, it’s an uphill battle and I’m afraid as the state’s demographics (poor, uneducated, of low intelligence, motivated by slogans and marxist ideals) change, it will become impossible to fight the left-wing monsters.

They also accept donations—you can imagine that the forces they fight have almost unlimited funds to fight limited government, property rights and free markets.

Bon

3 — Anonymous wrote at 1:52 PM on October 14:

Here is a spread sheet from the Center for Equal Opportunity that documents the very low MCAT test score admittances that are given to blacks when applying to medical school:

http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=t9ZbROCLK1BzBop3NEmhKcw&output=html

I also checked the AAMS web site and also found that Hispanics were also given race based preferential treatment over whites and Asians, when it comes to their low test scores and getting into med school.


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