San Francisco affirmative action plan ruled illegal

This is good to see.

A Superior Court judge has ruled that a two-decade-old affirmative action program in San Francisco violates the sweeping ban on race and gender preferences California voters approved in 1996.

Judge James L. Warren said the city’s public contracting rules, which include giving minority and women-owned businesses special notice of application opportunities and a 10 percent deduction from their bids, is an unconstitutional breach of Proposition 209, the 1996 state ballot measure that eliminated race- and gender-based government programs.

“The intent of the voters in adopting Proposition 209 was to outlaw race- and sex-based programs irrespective of the good will and moral position behind any particular program,” Warren wrote in an opinion issued late Monday.