The english philosopher john locke wrote that

affirmative action refers to the policies that take gender, race, or ethnicity into account in order to promote equal opportunity.

employers subject to title vii are prohibited from taking race or sex into account in any employment decisions. aa is a penalty for having any job group substantially statistically "underutilized" in any race or either sex. the employer must take steps to eliminate the underutilization, then stop, ending its aa efforts

several states had passed similar laws, but they were limited to intrastate businesses. the sherman antitrust act was based on the constitutional power of congress to regulate interstate commerce.

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