Constitution Over Quotas: Adarand’s Stand for Equal Protection
In America, your race should never determine your opportunities, especially when it comes to doing honest work and earning a living. But in 1989, that is exactly what happened to Randy and Valery Pech, the owners of Adarand Constructors, Inc., a Colorado-based guardrail company.
The U.S. Department of Transportation had awarded a highway construction contract in the San Juan National Forest. Adarand, by all accounts, did everything right. They were the lowest bidder on the subcontract work they specialized in, guardrails. But they lost the job anyway. Why? Because the federal government was handing out bonuses to prime contractors who hired subcontractors based on race.
That’s right. A company that wasn’t the lowest bidder, Gonzales Construction, got the job solely because it was certified as a “Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE),” a designation largely based on race. And the government even paid the prime contractor a $10,000 bonus for making that race-based choice.
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Our Client: The Presumption of Disadvantage, Based on Race
The DBE program was rooted in a 1982 federal law that presumed 42 racial groups were “socially disadvantaged.” If a business owner checked the right racial box and had a modest economic status, their company got certified as a DBE. In practice, that meant race trumped merit. And when Adarand dared to challenge this unconstitutional favoritism, the government tried to swat them down.
But Peches didn’t back down, and Mountain State stood firmly by their side.
They filed a lawsuit in 1990, arguing that the federal government’s racial preference program violated the Fifth Amendment’s promise of equal protection. They weren’t looking for handouts, just a level playing field. But the district court and the Tenth Circuit didn’t want to hear it.
So Adarand took their fight to the Supreme Court.
A Turning Point in American Civil Rights Law
In 1995, the Supreme Court handed down its decision in Adarand Constructors, Inc. v. Peña. Writing for the 5-4 majority, Justice Sandra Day O’Connor delivered a clear message: government racial classifications, no matter the reason or the level of government, must meet the highest level of constitutional scrutiny: strict scrutiny.
In plain terms: if the government is going to treat people differently based on race, it better have a truly compelling reason, and the policy better be narrowly tailored to meet that reason.
And in this case, it wasn’t.
Justice Antonin Scalia put it best in his powerful concurring opinion:
“Under our Constitution there can be no such thing as either a creditor or debtor race… In the eyes of government, we are just one race here. It is American.”
Opinion and Legacy
Adarand v. Peña is a landmark civil rights case. It didn’t just expose a broken, discriminatory system, it helped fix it. The ruling forced the federal government, and every government actor, to remember that equal protection isn’t optional. It’s a constitutional mandate.
This case has been cited over 11,000 times. It laid the groundwork for challenging racial quotas and preferences in contracting, hiring, and education. And it proved that even against the full weight of the federal government, one family business, armed with the truth and the Constitution, can stand up and win.
Mountain States Legal Foundation was proud to represent Adarand and Peches in this fight for equality, and justice.
Because in America, merit should matter more than melanin.
