Prop. 209 Suit
* Re “Prop. 209 Foes Vow Suit Over Its Ballot Title and Summary,” July 24: Ironically, the lawsuit challenging the official ballot title of the California Civil Rights Initiative is itself a political attempt to mislead the voters. The lawsuit brought by the campaign against the initiative accuses the attorney general of failing to spell out that the measure is intended to eliminate affirmative action programs.
By its own terms, the California Civil Rights Initiative provides that “the state shall not discriminate against, or grant preferential treatment to, any individual or group on the basis of race, sex, color, ethnicity, or national origin.” The official ballot title describes it as a “prohibition against discrimination or preferential treatment by state and other public entities.” What could be a more straightforward translation than that?
Nothing in the initiative would prevent “affirmative action” programs that do not discriminate by race or gender. A program giving special consideration based on economic disadvantage, for example, would survive under this law.
RUSSELL M. MORTYN
La Crescenta
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