Opinion ID: 777482
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Subsequent Treatment of Bakke and Marks

Text: 205 It is apparent that the Supreme Court has doubted that Bakke provided a holding beyond the obvious one that UC Davis's system was illegal. 9 Though only writing for four Justices, Justice Brennan wrote in the introduction to his Bakke concurrence that [t]he difficulty of the issue presented... and the mature consideration which each of our Brethren has brought to it have resulted in many opinions, no single one speaking for the Court. 438 U.S. at 324, 98 S.Ct. 2733. Two years later, in the course of examining a minority business provision in the Public Works Employment Act of 1977, the Court expressly refused to adopt the formulas of analysis set out in Bakke and did not discuss any holding coming from the case, but instead set out to show that the challenged provision would survive judicial review under either `test' articulated in the several Bakke opinions. Fullilove v. Klutznick, 448 U.S. 448, 492, 100 S.Ct. 2758, 65 L.Ed.2d 902 (1980). After Marks was decided, the Supreme Court in Adarand again expressed doubt that there is a comprehensive holding to be found in Bakke. See Adarand, 515 U.S. at 218, 115 S.Ct. 2097 (noting that  Bakke did not produce an opinion for the Court). 206 Further, there is Supreme Court precedent for the proposition that when it is so unclear what the Marks holding would be in a fractured court decision, there may not be one. For example, in Nichols v. United States, 511 U.S. 738, 114 S.Ct. 1921, 128 L.Ed.2d 745 (1994), the Court re-examined its prior, splintered decision in Baldasar v. Illinois, 446 U.S. 222, 100 S.Ct. 1585, 64 L.Ed.2d 169 (1980). After citing Marks and noting the varied possible holdings divined by different courts that had examined Baldasar, the Supreme Court declined to engage in a Marks analysis, stating: 207 We think it not useful to pursue the Marks inquiry to the utmost logical possibility when it has so obviously baffled and divided the lower courts that have considered it. This degree of confusion following a splintered decision such as Baldasar is itself a reason for reexamining that decision. 208 Nichols, 511 U.S. at 745-46, 114 S.Ct. 1921. See also Johnson v. Board of Regents, 263 F.3d 1234, 1248 n. 12 (11th Cir.2001) (The Supreme Court has not compelled us to find a `holding' on each issue in each of its decisions. On the contrary, the Court has indicated that there may be situations where even the Marks inquiry does not yield any rule to be treated as binding in future cases.). The fact that lower courts are unclear as to what holding — if any — can be garnered from Bakke on the diversity issue is clearly illustrated by the University of Michigan cases, where one district court at least found viable the argument that Justice Powell's rationale represented Bakke 's holding regarding the diversity issue under Marks, while the other district court found Marks inapplicable.