And he wore a necktie bearing a confederate flag to a recent hearing on minority set-asides.

Wisely, it avoids responding to last year's Richmond, Va., ruling against minority set-asides in local construction contracts.

Mr. Nieto said last year that about half his company's $15 million in annual revenue came from "minority set-asides."

"These programs are in legal jeopardy," a senior official said of minority set-asides and other race-based preference programs.

They're angry about minority set-asides, affirmative action, busing.

The Court ruled that minority set-asides could be upheld only if they passed the legal test of strict scrutiny, a test virtually impossible to satisfy.

The Supreme Court ignored that minority set-asides are not intended to be forever.

His opposition to minority set-asides and racial preferences have drawn the ire of many in the minority community over the last decade.

"The cases are very important," said Michael E. Kennedy, director of Equal Opportunity Services for the Associated General Contractors, a trade group that is opposed to minority set-asides.

In Mr. Reynolds's view, quotas and minority set-asides are distortions of affirmative action that are "exacerbating racial tension in America."