674
O'Connor, J., dissenting
mond v. J. A. Croson Co., 488 U. S. 469 (1989), in which we held that a set-aside program deficient in similar respects violated the Equal Protection Clause. App. to Pet. for Cert. 10-13. The District Court concluded that Jacksonville had not made sufficient findings of past discrimination; it therefore did not reach the "narro[w] tailor[ing]" question. Id., at 12.
The new ordinance clearly was written to remedy the constitutional defects that petitioner alleged and the District Court found in the original program. The new law was passed after completion of an independent study, which the city commissioned, and after a select committee of the Jacksonville City Council conducted numerous public hearings. The new ordinance expressly adopts the select committee's findings concerning "the present effects of past discrimination" in city contracting. Jacksonville Purchasing Code § 126.601 (1992).
The city's effort to make the law more narrowly tailored also is evident. By its terms, the new program will expire in 10 years. § 126.604(a). In addition, as the Court explains, all but two of eight previously favored groups have been eliminated from the list of qualified participants; the participation goals vary according to the type of contract and the ownership of the contractor; and there are now five alternative methods for achieving the participation goals. See ante, at 660-661. Only one of the five methods for complying with the participation goals, the "Sheltered Market Plan," resembles the earlier set-aside law. Ante, at 661. It is unclear how the city will decide when, if ever, to use the Sheltered Market Plan, rather than an alternative method, for a particular project. As in Fusari, "we can only speculate how the new system might operate." 419 U. S., at 388-389.
Whether or not the new ordinance survives scrutiny under the Fourteenth Amendment—a question on which I express no view—I cannot say that these changes are "insignificant," ante, at 662, to petitioner's equal protection claim. The ma-
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