To attack affirmative action nationwide, the chairman of the anti-affirmative action campaign in California has founded a new national organization against affirmative action. Ward Connerly, a former lobbyist for state contractors and the University of California Regent who led the campaign against affirmative action in California with the YES on 209 campaign, has deceptively named his new group The American Civil Rights Institute.

"The name of the organization is not only misleading, but outright misrepresentative of the true objectives of the group, which seeks to end equal opportunity affirmative action programs and gut sex discrimination laws nationwide," said Kathy Spillar, National Coordinator of the Feminist Majority. At a press conference announcing the new group held February 12th in Washington DC, Connerly outlined his plan to launch 209 copy-cat initiatives in five states this year, including Colorado, Washington, Arizona, Florida and Oregon . While in Washington, Connerly met with several anti-affirmative action elected officials including Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich (R-GA), Senator Trent Lott (R-MS), and Representative Charles Canady (R-FL), encouraging them to introduce and support anti-affirmative action bills in Congress.

The anti-affirmative action Proposition 209 which passed in California last November has not been implemented thanks to the injunction issued by Judge Henderson of the 9th Circuit court of appeals. The initiative, which seeks to eliminate affirmative action for women and people of color in public employment, education and contracting, as well as weaken sex discrimination laws in California, passed by a much smaller margin than predicted as a result of the hard work of the women's rights and civil rights community spearheaded by the Feminist Majority.

To counter Connerly's group, Martin Luther King III has started a pro-affirmative action organization in Atlanta called Americans United for Affirmative Action.

In other affirmative action news, the US Supreme Court struck another blow against set-aside programs for minority- and women-owned businesses when it refused to hear a case in which a lower court outlawed the City of Philadelphia's set-aside program for businesses owned by African Americans and women. The Court issued no comment on their refusal to hear the case (Philadelphia vs. Contractors Assn. of Eastern Pennsylvania, 96-899).

The program was based on a study which indicated a large disparity between the number of minority and women contractors and the available labor force. The lower court ruled that the disparity could not be used to claim discrimination in the contracting field and therefore set-aside programs could not legally be used. However, major contractors in the city of Philadelphia must continue to comply with an executive order issued by the mayor which calls for the solicitation of bids from minority firms and record-keeping on subcontractors.

See the Feminist Majority Foundation's Affirmative Action Information Center.