Do federal civil rights laws guarantee equal outcomes? Join me for a discussion after the Supreme Court oral argument on January 21.

Liberty Blog has several great posts, including here, here, and here, discussing the significant equal protection issues in Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs v. The Inclusive Communities Project. The Pacific Legal Foundation’s excellent amicus brief by my Sacramento colleagues can be found here. The short answer is that the civil rights laws cannot constitutionally require governments or private parties to engage in conscious efforts to equalize the outcomes of their policies across racial and ethnic lines, except in extremely rare circumstances, such as to remedy their own racially discriminatory conduct. My op-ed in The Blaze today on the case and the larger issues at stake in any statute that creates unintentional “disparate impact” liability can be found here.

I will be in the courtroom for tomorrow’s Supreme Court oral argument in the Texas Department of Housing case. And at 2:00 p.m. EST/11:00 a.m. PST, the Federalist Society is sponsoring a “Courthouse Steps Teleforum” call in which I will lead a discussion on the oral argument and what insights we might glean from it.  Although such calls are normally limited to Federalist Society members, the Society has graciously agreed to open the call to interested press and Liberty Blog readers. Thus, you may join the discussion by dialing 888-752-3232. There will be a Q&A period and others who were present might chime in as well.