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Ricci v. Destefano is a Hard Case -- NOT

A lot of people misunderstand the issues in Ricci v. Destefano.  This is because you have to know quite a bit about both federal law and constitutional law to understand it.  Most do not.  Thus, massive confusion.To analyze Ricci, keep a few things in mind.1.  You can't give a test that disparately impacts a protected class.  Griggs v. Duke Power Co. A racial group (majority or minority) is a protected class.  Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.Think of disparate impact as one of two things: unintentional discrimination; or discrimination you can't prove.  Disparate-impact-as-unintentional-discrimination: Let's say you give a test that you think people should pass.  It's not your goal to make a member of a protected class flunk it.  It just so happens that a lot of members of a protected class flunked the test...continue to full post

Full post as published by Crime & Federalism on June 08, 2009 (boomark / email).