William Perry Pendley closes the Adarand case

ADARAND Constructors, Inc., a small family-owned Colorado Springs company that builds highway guardrails, made history in 1995 when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in its favor in its challenge to several laws that require federal officials to award highway contracts on the basis of race. The Court ordered federal lawyers to meet the “strict scrutiny” test, and sent the case back to federal district court in Colorado.

On June 2, 1997, after nearly two years of Clinton Administration delays, Judge Kane found the federal laws, and their implementing regulations, to be unconstitutional. Applying the Supreme Court’s requirement that race-based programs be “narrowly tailored,” Judge Kane found the program constitutionally flawed as “both underinclusive and overinclusive.” “Indeed,” he declared, “under these standards, the Sultan of Brunei would qualify [as socially and economically disadvantaged].” Judge Kane, who was appointed to the federal bench in 1977 by President Carter, also enjoined the Federal Government from “administering, enforcing, soliciting bids for, or allocating any funds” under the program.

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William Perry Pendley

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ADARAND Constructors, Inc., a small family-owned Colorado Springs company that builds highway guardrails, made history in 1995 when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in its favor in its challenge to several laws that require federal officials to award highway contracts on the basis of race. The Court ordered federal lawyers to meet the “strict scrutiny” test, and sent the case back to federal district court in Colorado.

On June 2, 1997, after nearly two years of Clinton Administration delays, Judge Kane found the federal laws, and their implementing regulations, to be unconstitutional. Applying the Supreme Court’s requirement that race-based programs be “narrowly tailored,” Judge Kane found the program constitutionally flawed as “both underinclusive and overinclusive.” “Indeed,” he declared, “under these standards, the Sultan of Brunei would qualify [as socially and economically disadvantaged].” Judge Kane, who was appointed to the federal bench in 1977 by President Carter, also enjoined the Federal Government from “administering, enforcing, soliciting bids for, or allocating any funds” under the program.