Over the past four decades, U.S. courts have ruled that plaintiffs making discrimination claims under the Fair Housing Act don’t have to prove intentional bias.
Civil rights advocates simply have to show that lenders, insurers, developers or government agencies acted in ways that had a “disparate,” or unequal, impact on minority groups.
Now, the Supreme Court is weighing whether to hear an appeal from Texas officials who argue that intent to discriminate must be proven and that the “disparate impact” standard is too loose an interpretation of the landmark 1968 law that prohibited discrimination in housing.
Advocates on both sides say the court’s record under Chief Justice John Roberts, who has engineered a rollback of decades-old protections for racial minorities, suggests the majority is poised to wipe out the standard, Bloomberg Businessweek reports in its Sept. 29-Oct. 5 issue.
via Showdown Over Landmark Housing Law Looms at U.S. Supreme Court – Bloomberg.
