Interest Groups Vie for Public Support: The Battle Over Anti-Affirmative Action Initiatives in California and Michigan

Although affirmative action in college admissions has not been declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court, the consideration of race in admissions has been banned in nine statesin six of them by public vote. This article analyzes the campaigns to ban affirmative action in California and Michigan as a battle between interest groups. The course of events in these states demonstrates that public opinion is a threat to the legality of affirmative action, should interest groups continue to take advantage of it by pursuing bans by state initiative.