State senator and congressional candidate Glenn Grothman, a Republican from West Bend, said he would seek to bring back such legislation, which he has proposed in the past without success. So far, no legislative leaders in Wisconsin have signed on to his proposal, and as a constitutional amendment it would need to be approved by two consecutive sessions of the Legislature and by voters in a referendum.
Grothman praised the U.S. Supreme Court decision Thursday upholding a similar ban in Michigan against a legal challenge.
"People do not realize — the average person does not realize — how extensive race and gender preferences are in our society," Grothman said.
As an example of this, Grothman pointed to the targets for state and federal contracts to go to businesses owned by women and minorities or to businesses with certain hiring or subcontracting practices for those groups. Those kinds of requirements and targets are "divisive," said Grothman, who is running to replace outgoing U.S. Rep. Tom Petri of Fond du Lac in the 6th Congressional District.
These targets for government contractors are also used to help other groups such as veterans and small business owners.
Grothman said that the best way to boost lagging levels of minority education, income and employment is to improve schools.
Meanwhile, dozens of applicants denied admission to the University of Wisconsin-Madison have contacted a nonprofit legal group that's soliciting clients for a potential lawsuit because race is among the many factors the state flagship takes into account in its admissions decisions.
The potential lawsuit is looming against a backdrop of the U.S. Supreme Court decision. A UW-Madison spokesman declined Tuesday to comment on the Supreme Court decision.
The justices said in a 6-2 ruling that Michigan voters had the right to change their state constitution in 2006 to prohibit public colleges and universities from taking account of race in admissions decisions. The justices said that a lower federal court was wrong to set aside the change as discriminatory.
Tuesday's Supreme Court decision boosts similar voter-approved initiatives in California and Washington state banning affirmative action in education. A few other states have adopted laws or issued executive orders to bar race-conscious admissions policies, according to news reports.
