June 26, 2015

The significance of the court's housing ruling

Vox - The [housing] question the Supreme Court considered was this: Can people who complain of housing discrimination continue to win their cases by using statistics showing the effect of the policies — a tactic known as the disparate impact theory, a staple of fair housing law — or will they have to do something much more difficult and prove that defendants intended to discriminate?
In the majority opinion, written by Justice Kennedy and joined by Justices Breyer, Sotomayor, and Kagan, the court decided that the disparate impact claims are still allowed under the Fair Housing Act, explaining, "The FHA contains the phrase 'because of race,' but Title VII and the ADEA also contain that wording and this Court nonetheless held that those statutes impose disparate-impact liability." The decision also said, "Recognition of disparate-impact claims is also consistent with the central purpose of the FHA, which … was enacted to eradicate discriminatory practices within a sector of the Nation's economy."

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