In the 1979 case of Estes et al. v. Metropolitan Branches of the Dallas NAACP et al., a group of white firefighters in Dallas, Texas sued their employer and several local branches of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). The plaintiffs claimed that they were being discriminated against due to affirmative action policies which aimed to increase racial diversity within their department. They argued that these policies violated their rights under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act by favoring black applicants over equally or more qualified white candidates. However, both lower courts and ultimately, the Supreme Court disagreed with this argument stating that such measures were necessary to rectify past discrimination against minority groups within public services like firefighting departments.

The dissenting opinion in the case of Estes et al. v. Metropolitan Branches of the Dallas NAACP et al., 1979, argued that there was no constitutional violation in this case and therefore, it should not have been brought before the Supreme Court. The dissenters believed that while racial discrimination is a serious issue, it did not apply to this particular situation as there was no evidence showing any intentional discriminatory practices by the defendants against minority contractors or subcontractors. They also disagreed with the majority's interpretation of Title VI regulations and felt they were being applied too broadly here without sufficient justification or precedent support from previous cases dealing with similar issues. Furthermore, they expressed concerns about potential negative implications for future federal funding decisions if such broad interpretations were allowed to stand unchallenged.