March 23, 2020
The Court’s Decision Weakens 19th-Century Civil Rights Law, Imposing a Burdensome Pleading Standard on Victims of Discrimination
WASHINGTON
– Today the United States Supreme Court instructed a lower court to
reconsider its ruling in a discrimination case involving National
Association of African American Owned Media (NAAAOM) and Comcast. The
decision issued by the Court weakens the reach of Section 1981, a core
provision of the Civil Rights Act of 1866 – a historic statute that
prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color and ethnicity when
making and enforcing contracts – imposing a burdensome pleading standard
on victims of discrimination.
“The
Court's decision imposes a tougher burden of proof that will likely
make it more difficult for discrimination victims to invoke the
protections of Section 1981 in discrimination cases,” said Kristen
Clarke, president & executive director of the Lawyers’ Committee for
Civil Rights Under Law. “This ruling weakens our nation's oldest civil
rights statute and may shut the courthouse door on some discrimination
victims who, at the complaint stage, may simply be without the full
range of evidence needed to meet the Court's heightened standard. That
said, the Court has ordered the district court to review its earlier
decision to determine whether ESN'S claims satisfy the standard. We will
be watching closely to ensure that courts give discrimination victims a
fair opportunity to be heard in these cases.”
"Today's
Supreme Court decision is a huge step backward in our march toward
achieving equal opportunity for all," said Derrick Johnson, NAACP
President and CEO. "It will significantly restrict the ability of
discrimination victims to prove their claims under one of our nation's
premier civil rights laws. We will do everything within our power to
urge Congress to correct this travesty of justice."
“In
passing the Civil Rights Act of 1866, the Reconstruction Congress
recognized that African American people must be placed on an equal
footing with white people in their ability to access economic
opportunity. Today, the Supreme Court undermined that important
commitment, ruling that a defendant may escape liability even if racial
discrimination played a role in its decision, and places instead an
additional burden on plaintiffs at the very outset of their litigation,”
said Sherrilyn Ifill, president and director-counsel of the NAACP Legal
Defense Fund. “We are gratified that the Court did not adopt some of
the more extreme arguments advocated by Comcast and the Trump
Administration as amicus curiae. We will be carefully monitoring how
this decision is applied in the lower courts to ensure that victims of
racial discrimination have a meaningful remedy.”
“The
court’s troubling decision has the potential to weaken a historic civil
rights statute and diminish an important tool for discrimination
victims seeking legal recourse,” said Vanita Gupta, president and CEO of
The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights. “Every person, no
matter who they are or what their race, should have fair and equitable
access to opportunity and economic mobility. If courts apply today’s
decision in a manner that allows discriminatory acts to go unabated,
Congress must step in to reverse the decision and safeguard the rights
of discrimination victims.”
Background
Section
1981 applies to all private and public actors and prohibits
retaliation. The statute has been one of the cornerstones of the oldest
and most storied pieces of civil rights laws for over 150 years – the
Civil Rights Act of 1866.
The
Lawyers’ Committee For Civil Rights Under Law, the NAACP Legal Defense
and Educational Fund, Inc. (LDF), NAACP, and The Leadership Conference
on Civil and Human Rights filed amicus briefs in the case last fall.
The
Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law and NAACP LDF argued in
their briefs that the position taken by Comcast was inconsistent with
the plain text of Section 1981, and would frustrate the fundamental
purpose of the provision – to place African Americans on equal footing
as white citizens in our nation’s economy. Comcast urged the Supreme
Court to hold that Section 1981 requires a “but-for” causation standard.
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