Opinion ID: 676060
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Rufo's First Prong: Prerequisites for Modification

Text: 88 The district court approved the City and Board decrees in 1981, thirteen years ago. The Supreme Court had, at that time, just begun to address the constitutionality of affirmative action. See Fullilove v. Klutznick, 448 U.S. 448, 100 S.Ct. 2758, 65 L.Ed.2d 902 (1980); Regents of Univ. of Cal. v. Bakke, 438 U.S. 265, 98 S.Ct. 2733, 57 L.Ed.2d 750 (1978); Califano v. Webster, 430 U.S. 313, 97 S.Ct. 1192, 51 L.Ed.2d 360 (1977). Since then, the Court has repeatedly revisited this issue, substantially changing affirmative action jurisprudence. Most significantly, City of Richmond v. J.A. Croson Co., 488 U.S. 469, 498-508, 109 S.Ct. 706, 724-30, 102 L.Ed.2d 854 (1989), established that voluntary, race-conscious, local-government affirmative action programs are subject to strict scrutiny. Prior to Croson, a majority of the Supreme Court had never joined in one opinion on the constitutionality of such programs. Peightal v. Metropolitan Dade County, 940 F.2d 1394, 1398-99 (11th Cir.1991) (footnote omitted), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 112 S.Ct. 969, 117 L.Ed.2d 134 (1992). Croson sufficiently altered the legal landscape to warrant modifications to the present decrees under Rufo. As we discuss later in this opinion, Croson has rendered parts of the decrees unconstitutional. 89