ABSTRACT
Eighteen years have passed since the U.S. Supreme Court's landmark decision in Griggs v. Duke Power Company. Since that time the Court has reviewed numerous cases, and it is now possible to describe the "consensus" that the Court has reached in the way it approaches affirmative action cases. Following a review of the Court's two-part analytical approach to affirmative action, this article analyzes the Court's deliberations with respect to the competing values of individual rights, social equity, and efficiency. The future of affirmative action is examined in terms of the influence of the Court's configuration, its respect for precedent, and the way in which the value of social equity has penetrated public personnel policy and practices.
