Adarand Constructors, Inc. v. Mineta

Summary

The Court dismissed the writ of certiorari as improvidently granted rather than deciding whether the Department of Transportation’s Disadvantaged Business Enterprise program satisfies strict scrutiny. The case had shifted from the state-and-local procurement program reviewed below to different provisions governing direct federal procurement, and the Court of Appeals had not addressed those provisions or petitioner’s standing to challenge them. The Court therefore declined to decide the merits in the first instance or conduct a new standing inquiry based on materials presented only shortly before argument.