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Hello and welcome to the Excerpt, I'm Dana Taylor. Today is Wednesday March 6th,

24 and this is a special episode of the excerpt. 50 years ago a white Louisiana factory worker named Brian Weber sued for reverse

discrimination and lost.

The 1979 Supreme Court United Steel Workers of America versus Weber decision focused on the

use of race conscious affirmative action to address specific disparities in employment opportunities.

Who was the man at the center of this historic landmark case and why is overturning it still the focus of conservative efforts today.

I'm joined now by USA Today Senior Reporter, Jessica Gwyn, to discuss the case's history,

and why it still divides us.

Jessica, thanks for joining me.

Thanks so much for having me.

So let's start with Brian Weber.

Who was he and what was happening

at Kaiser Aluminum that led to this lawsuit?

Well in 1974 Brian Weber was an ambitious 32 year old blue collar worker at the Kaiser Aluminum and Chemical Plant in Grammar Sea, Louisiana,

which was about midway between New Orleans and Baton Rouge.

And you know, around those parts, you had sugar mills and other plants that

dotted the horizon. He had been working there for six years. He was hired as a laborer

then bid into an operator's position at the company's chlorine facility,

and then he transferred into a job as a lab technician, but he really, really wanted one of the

positions as a craftsman at the plant. These were men who had better schedules and working conditions. In fact, craftsman could earn an additional 10,000 to 15,000 dollars more a year, including benefits and overtime.

...