The case in which the supreme court heard a legal challenge to affirmative action programs was new jersey v. t. l .o. vernonia v. acton. regents v. bakke. proposition 209.

The case in which the Supreme Court heard a legal challenge to affirmative action programs was Regents v. Bakke.

Explanation:

The School of Medicine of the University of California carried out a program by which sixteen students belonging to racial minorities had to be admitted for each class of one hundred students. With this aim it used a regular program according to which applicants were rejected with an average of less than 2.5 points and a special one in which that score did not apply, thus carrying out possitive action to include these minorities into higher education.

Allan P. Bakke, a white aspirant whose applications were rejected on two occasions, demanded the university because the special program had admitted candidates who had obtained a score lower than his. He founded his claim in the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, that establishes that no State of the United States may deny any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of rights.

The Supreme Court of California considered that such a system was illegal and ordered the admission of the plaintiff. Once the documents have been sent to the Supreme Court of the United States, it partially confirmed the sentence: although admitting positive discrimination as a way to equalize opportunities and generate equity in cases where inequality is evident, this does not prevent that this type of measures must be equitable for all groups. Therefore, as this measure by the University of California generated injustices based on a positive action measure, it was declared unconstitutional and Bakke's admission was ordered.