HispanicBusiness

WASHINGTON, Nov. 18 /PRNewswire/ -- The Lawyers' Committee is pleased by the U.S. Supreme Court's denial of certiorari in the case of Concrete Works of Colorado, Inc. v. City and County of Denver, Colorado. This decision by the Supreme Court affirms a lower court ruling that upheld a Denver, Colorado affirmative action program.

The program in question is a 1990 Denver law designed to remedy racial and gender discrimination in city contracting. The local ordinance was challenged as a form of unconstitutional discrimination.

The Supreme Court's refusal to consider this case affirms the principles of inclusion and equal opportunity for historically disadvantaged communities and is consistent with the views expressed earlier this year by the Court in the University of Michigan affirmative action cases. "Minority and women- owned businesses make significant contributions to our economy despite the presence of racial, ethnic, and gender discrimination. The Denver program recognizes this fact and attempts to fix this problem by providing equal access to business owners who have been shut out of the process in the past," said Barbara Arnwine, Executive Director of the Lawyers' Committee.

The Lawyers' Committee is deeply concerned with affirmative action issues and filed an amicus brief in the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals in support of the City of Denver. The Lawyers' Committee recently launched an Entrepreneurial Opportunities Program that has been monitoring the case since the appeal was filed with the Supreme Court.

The Lawyers' Committee is a forty year old nonpartisan, nonprofit civil rights legal organization, formed in 1963 at the request of President John F. Kennedy to provide legal services to address racial discrimination. The Lawyers' Committee has through litigation and advocacy worked to protect and preserve affirmative action in higher education, employment, and contracting.

For more information, or a copy of our briefs in these cases, visit us at http://www.lawyerscommittee.org/ Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law

CONTACT: Kim Alton of the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law,+1-202-662-8600

Web site: http://www.lawyerscommittee.org/