The Bakke decision relied on which constitutional amendment's Equal Protection Clause?

• A. First Amendment
• B. Second Amendment
• C. Fourteenth Amendment Equal Protection Clause
• D. Fifth Amendment

Answer: (C)

Equal protection under the Fourteenth Amendment controls how states treat people, including admissions to public universities. In Regents of the University of California v. Bakke, the Supreme Court examined a state university’s admissions program that reserved a fixed number of spots for minority applicants. The Court ruled that rigid numerical quotas based on race violated the Fourteenth Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause. But it also allowed race to be considered as one factor among many in admissions decisions, so long as it was not the sole criterion or a rigid quota.

This question isn’t about the First or Second Amendments, which protect freedoms of speech/religion and the right to bear arms, respectively, nor is it about the federal government’s equal-protection guarantees tied to the Fifth Amendment. The decision rests on the Fourteenth Amendment’s Equal Protection framework because it addresses how a state action (a public university admissions policy) treats individuals based on race.