Articles

Ninth Circuit : Ban on felon-coaches is not racial discrimination

June 27, 2017 | By WENCONG FA

The Ninth Circuit issued a favorable opinion today in Hardie v. NCAA, a case raising the important question of whether disparate impact liability is cognizable under Title II of the Civil Rights Act. The Ninth Circuit didn’t answer the question. It held instead that NCAA’s ban on felon-coaches in its high school tournaments didn’t ...

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Oral argument on NCAA's anti-felon policy

January 16, 2017 | By WENCONG FA

The NCAA prohibits felons from coaching in sponsored basketball tournaments. Dominic Hardie, a black basketball coach, sued the NCAA for racial discrimination. But Hardie doesn’t allege intentional discrimination. Instead, he’s suing the NCAA under a theory of liability known as disparate impact. One problem: It’s an open quest ...

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"Ban the box" laws and disparate impact liability

June 27, 2016 | By WENCONG FA

Pacific Legal Foundation opposes disparate impact, a form of liability that brands an act (e.g. an employer’s hiring practice) as discriminatory just because it does not produce the “right” racial result. There are many objections to disparate impact liability, but chief among these is that such liability leads to disparate treat ...

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Weekly litigation report — June 17, 2016

June 17, 2016 | By JAMES BURLING

Property rights — limits on the public trust doctrine The Washington state court of appeals issued this opinion on the “public trust doctrine” in Chelan Basin Conservancy v. GBI Holdings.  The facts here involved a lake that had been raised 21 feet by a dam in the 1920s. GBI owned several acres of land that periodically flooded ...

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President’s weekly report — December 31, 2015

December 31, 2015 | By ROB RIVETT

School choice supported in Montana PLF sued the Montana Department of Revenue to fight a rule that forbids children who want to attend religious school from getting scholarship assistance. In May 2015, Montana became the 43rd state to adopt a school choice law. The law creates a tax incentive for individuals and businesses to donate money to  ...

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Is the NCAA ban on felon coaches discriminatory? (hint : no)

December 30, 2015 | By WENCONG FA

The NCAA sponsors high school basketball tournaments and prohibits anyone who has been convicted of a felony from coaching in them. Dominic Hardie, a black high school basketball coach with felony conviction for drug possession on his record, has sued the NCAA for racial discrimination. But how could that be? Few would associate the NCAA ban w ...

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More on disparate impact and the Fair Housing Act

July 02, 2015 | By RALPH KASARDA

The Washington Examiner published my opinion-editorial yesterday on the Supreme Court’s disappointing decision in Texas Dept. of Housing and Community Affairs v. Inclusive Communities Project, Inc.  Last week, the Court held that the Fair Housing Act (FHA), Title VIII of the Civil Rights Act of 1968, encompasses claims for disparate impact. ...

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President's weekly report — June 26, 2015

June 26, 2015 | By ROB RIVETT

The physical invasion of the raisin snatchers — a property rights victory at the Supreme Court  In a week marked by several major Supreme Court decisions that were quite disappointing to advocates of limited government and the rule of law, there was one very bright spot: this decision in Horne v. United States Department of Agriculture. T ...

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The lingering constitutional problem with disparate impact

June 25, 2015 | By WENCONG FA

Today the Court held that disparate impact claims are cognizable under the Fair Housing Act (our earlier blog post on the case is here). The Court came to this conclusion as a matter of statutory interpretation, but didn’t say much about the constitutional problems that might arise in a disparate impact lawsuit. Like the antagonist … ...