NONDISCRIMINATION laws have come to play a central role in the design of public policy in the modern welfare state. Between 1964 and 1975, Congress enacted a spate of such laws to prohibit discrimination in federally assisted programs and activities. The first of these, Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, barred discrimination on the basis of race, color, or national origin. By 1975, the nondiscrimination principle had been extended to protect several other groups, most notably women (in employment and in education programs) and the handicapped.