1. Whether a federal agency determining whether
an individual is a member of a minority group for
purposes of inclusion in a federal program should give
full faith and credit, or at least extreme deference, to
the prior determination by a state agency that the
applicant is a member of that minority group for
purposes of a parallel state program.

2. Whether the definitions and standards in 49
C.F.R. §§ 26.5 and 26.63 are impermissibly vague and
permit the arbitrary and capricious decisions that
occurred in this case, such as Mr. Taylor being certified
as Black for Washington State's Minority Business
Enterprise ("MBE") program but denied certification as
Black for the federal Disadvantaged Business
Enterprise ("DBE") program.

3. Whether the Ninth Circuit's decisions
improperly placed impediments to enforcing
discrimination laws as to state government employees
where it:
a. Held that the federal DBE program is not a
"program" within the meaning of 42 U.S.C.
§ 2000d, and therefore places state employees
beyond this discrimination law; and
b. Held the McDonnell Douglas burden-shifting
test did not apply to Mr. Taylor's discrimination
claims brought under 42 U.S.C. §§ 1983 and
2000d, which also creates a conflict between the
circuits.

Whether a federal agency should give full faith and credit or extreme deference to a state agency's prior determination of minority group membership