IS AFFIRMATIVE ACTION UNDER EXECUTIVE ORDER 11246 SIMPLY A “RACIAL SPOILS SYSTEM”?
Unquestionably no. Critics of affirmative action have argued that affirmative action is a system of spoils for unqualified African Americans or Hispanics, and is intended to benefit only these groups. As indicated above, affirmative action under Executive Order 11246 is not, nor has it ever been, intended to require preferences.<2> Affirmative action does not entail the disregard of qualifications. Moreover, affirmative action at OFCCP is not merely a race issue, it is also a gender issue, a disability issue and a veterans’ issue. Not only does OFCCP enforce Executive Order 11246, amended to include gender in 1967, it also enforces Section 503 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the affirmative action provisions of the Vietnam Era Veterans’ Readjustment Assistance Act of 1974. Both statutes, signed into law by a Republican president, require affirmative action. Thus, mischaracterizing affirmative action as a preference or quota program for the unqualified misrepresents its scope, as
