Discrimination | Reason Archives (original) (raw)
Courts Shouldn't Rely on Election Returns to Give Trump a Blank Check for Policies Motivated by Unconstitutional Discrimination
The key issue in such cases is the motivation of the official who adopted by the policy, not who voted for him.
Ilya Somin |The Volokh Conspiracy | 11.12.2024 7:11 PM
What Happens When FEMA Buys Your House?
As hurricane damage mounts, the government is buying—and sometimes seizing—homes in flood-prone areas, sparking concerns over property rights and accusations of discrimination.
Josiah Neeley | 10.11.2024 1:50 PM
Feds Sue Another Landlord for Discriminating Against an Emotional Support Animal
Federal housing officials allege a New Hampshire landlord violated the Fair Housing Act for refusing to show a unit to two women with emotional support dogs.
Christian Britschgi | 10.9.2024 12:15 PM
Second Circuit Rules Intent To Racially Balance NY High Schools Is Unconstitutional
Judge Joseph Bianco’s decision emphasizes that constitutional rights and protections belong to individuals, not groups.
Jack Nicastro | 9.26.2024 1:34 PM
The DOOBIE Act Would Limit Government Discrimination Against People Who Have Smoked Weed
Under the law, the feds couldn't deny you a job or security clearance just because you've used marijuana in the past.
Billy Binion | 7.19.2024 12:16 PM
The Maldives Banning Israelis Is a Disgrace
President Mohamed Muizzu cannot claim to be on the right side of history while adhering to a textbook definition of bigotry.
Billy Binion | 6.4.2024 5:29 PM
The Supreme Court Was Right to Consider Andrew Cuomo's Unconstitutional Motives in NRA v. Vullo—and the same Principle Applies to Trump and Other Presidents
Chief executives' illicit motives can render their subordinates' actions unconstitutional. There is good reason for courts to enforce that rule.
Ilya Somin |The Volokh Conspiracy | 6.2.2024 6:28 PM
The 70th Anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education
The anniversary is today. The American Journal of Law and Equality is publishing a symposium on Brown to mark the occasion. I am one of the contributors.
Ilya Somin |The Volokh Conspiracy | 5.17.2024 3:37 PM
Zoning Regulations Empower Control Freaks—and Bigots
The Institute for Justice has launched a project to reform land use regulation.
J.D. Tuccille | 5.15.2024 7:00 AM
New York's City of Maybe
Plus: Colorado passes a string of zoning reforms, an upscale Los Angeles grocery store sues to stop new housing, and Democrats urge the White House to get moving on fair housing.
Christian Britschgi | 5.14.2024 11:15 AM
Debating Legacy Preferences in College Admissions
Sociologist Roderick Graham and I debated this issue at the Divided We Fall website.
Ilya Somin |The Volokh Conspiracy | 5.5.2024 3:05 PM
Capitalism Makes Society Less Racist
In the Jim Crow South, businesses fought racism—because the rules denied them customers.
John Stossel | 4.24.2024 12:30 AM
A Magical World Where Government Discriminates Against the Nonmagical
The anime Mashle: Magic and Muscles offers an absurdist metaphor for politically driven discrimination.
Katarina Hall | 4.5.2024 8:30 AM
Tennessee Generally Bans Political and Religious Discrimination by Financial Institutions
Eugene Volokh |The Volokh Conspiracy | 3.28.2024 1:31 PM
Court Upholds Disbarment of Lawyer for In-Court Misconduct, Including Lawyers' Allegations of Anti-Female, Anti-Disabled, and Pro-Jewish Bias
Eugene Volokh |The Volokh Conspiracy | 2.6.2024 5:54 PM
ACLU Sues Ronald McDonald House for Refusing To House People Convicted of Assault
The ACLU's lawsuit is filed on behalf of a New York man whose application to stay in a Ronald McDonald House was denied because of his 12-year-old felony assault conviction.
Christian Britschgi | 1.31.2024 4:05 PM
Is Restricting Pro-Israel-as-Jewish-Democracy Speech National Origin/Ethnicity Discrimination or Harassment?
Harvard concludes that it is, but I’m skeptical that this is right—just as I’d be skeptical that an employer’s restricting pro-Hamas speech constitutes such discrimination or harassment.
Eugene Volokh |The Volokh Conspiracy | 11.6.2023 8:06 AM
"Targeting Students for Disparate Treatment Based on Protected Class Is Not Protected by Academic Freedom"
Eugene Volokh |The Volokh Conspiracy | 10.13.2023 4:32 PM
Stanford Instructor "Suspended for … [Alleged] 'Identity-Based Targeting' of Students in Connection with the Israel-Gaza War"
Eugene Volokh |The Volokh Conspiracy | 10.12.2023 5:53 PM
Old gun controls that were constitutionally repealed are not precedents for modern gun control
Amicus brief in Supreme Court's Second Amendment Rahimi case
David Kopel |The Volokh Conspiracy | 10.6.2023 2:54 PM
Banning Criminal Background Checks Will Lead To More Housing Discrimination, Not Less
The best reforms would correct the real problems of overcriminalization and overincarceration, as well as removing all artificial barriers to building more homes.
Veronique de Rugy | 9.28.2023 4:35 PM
The Feds Sue New York Landlords for Not Allowing a Tenant's Emotional Support Cat
The Department of Housing and Urban Development argues in its complaint that a failure to allow emotional support animals amounts to illegal disability discrimination under the Fair Housing Act.
Christian Britschgi | 9.19.2023 3:05 PM
Organization Serving Disabled People Claims Newspaper Discriminatorily Targeted It for Criticism
A N.J. judge has thrown out the lawsuit, on the narrow grounds that, even if the newspaper deliberately discouraged people from attending the group's charity gala, the N.J. Law Against Discrimination doesn't apply to charity galas.
Eugene Volokh |The Volokh Conspiracy | 9.1.2023 5:19 PM
Firing Based on Employee's Pre-Employment Social Media Posts Leads to Discrimination Lawsuit;
federal court allows the case to go forward.
Eugene Volokh |The Volokh Conspiracy | 8.31.2023 8:32 AM
ACLU-Backed Complaint Says Not Renting to People With Past Evictions Is Illegal Race, Sex Discrimination
HOPE Fair Housing Center argues in a new federal complaint that an Illinois landlord's blanket refusal to rent to people with eviction records amounts to illegal sex and race discrimination.
Christian Britschgi | 7.28.2023 3:30 PM
Officials Want To Ban Weight Discrimination in the Workplace
Plus: Elite colleges favor the rich, D.C. restaurants pass on new wage costs to customers, and more...
Elizabeth Nolan Brown | 7.25.2023 9:30 AM
Affirmative Action Is Racist and Therefore Wrong
If activists want to help young people, they should start before college.
John Stossel | 7.12.2023 12:30 AM
Did the Supreme Court Roll Back Gay Rights and Civil Rights?
Join Reason on YouTube and Facebook Thursday at 1 p.m. Eastern for a live discussion of the Court's recent rulings on affirmative action and same-sex wedding services.
Nick Gillespie | 7.5.2023 3:15 PM
How to Read 303 Creative v. Elenis
The speech compulsion it forbids is not limited to wedding-website designers who object to same-sex marriage, but its principles should apply only to a narrow range of commercial products
Dale Carpenter |The Volokh Conspiracy | 7.3.2023 2:11 PM
Colorado Can't Force a Graphic Designer To Create Same-Sex Wedding Websites, Supreme Court Rules
The decision reverses a terrible previous decision by the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals.
Stephanie Slade | 6.30.2023 2:40 PM
Can a Florida School District Ban a Children's Book About Gay Penguins?
The answer's more complicated than you might think.
Emma Camp | 6.21.2023 10:15 AM
Police Almost Beat Him To Death. After His Conviction Was Dismissed, Prosecutors Are Recharging Him.
Joseph Zamora spent nearly two years in prison after being convicted of assaulting police officers. The Washington Supreme Court overturned his conviction, but local prosecutors want to charge him again to show him the "improperness of his behavior."
Emma Camp | 6.7.2023 3:53 PM
Fourth Circuit Ruling in Anti-Asian Discrimination Case Sets a Dangerous Precedent
The decision sets a dangerous precedent licensing the use of facially neutral policies to discriminate against minorities in various contexts.
Ilya Somin |The Volokh Conspiracy | 5.23.2023 4:05 PM
Florida's Restrictions on Property Purchases by Chinese Citizens Hark Back to a Dark History of Xenophobia
In a federal lawsuit on behalf of legal U.S. residents from China, the ACLU argues that "Florida's New Alien Land Law" is unconstitutional.
Jacob Sullum | 5.23.2023 3:30 PM
The Satanic Temple Sues Over Right To Give 'Invocation' at City Council Meetings
"When the government picks and chooses among religions," the lawsuit reads, "religious liberty is threatened for all."
Emma Camp | 5.6.2023 7:00 AM
Supreme Court Weighs Whether Postal Service Can Force Christian Employee To Work on Sundays
Plus: Dominion defamation suit against Fox News starts today, Republicans' debt plan, and more...
Elizabeth Nolan Brown | 4.18.2023 9:30 AM
New Lawsuit Alleges That Kansas City Police Department Set Illegal Ticket Quotas for Officers
"KCPD has continuously and repeatedly advised Plaintiff and his fellow officers that if they did not fulfill a 'ticket quota' then they would be kicked out of the unit," the complaint states.
Emma Camp | 4.6.2023 5:00 PM
Hospitals Are Still Reporting New Mothers for Neglect Based on Drug Tests Triggered by Poppy Seeds
Two New Jersey women who gave birth last fall suffered harrowing ordeals thanks to their breakfast choices.
Jacob Sullum | 3.23.2023 4:10 PM
The Declining Political Significance of Irish-American Identity
Conflict between Irish-Americans and WASPs was once a major feature of American politics. Its near-total disappearance is a hopeful development that we can learn from.
Ilya Somin |The Volokh Conspiracy | 3.17.2023 5:29 PM
A White Employee Is Suing the City of Seattle for Alleged Racial Discrimination
"If I disagreed or offered another opinion, I was told I had cognitive dissonance," Josh Diemert says.
Robby Soave | 2.13.2023 11:07 AM
She Lost Her Job For Showing a Painting of Muhammad in Class. Now, She's Suing.
"Hamline subjected López Prater to the foregoing adverse actions because . . . she did not conform her conduct to the specific beliefs of a Muslim sect," the lawsuit states.
Emma Camp | 1.18.2023 1:20 PM
Beverly Gage: The Dark Truth About J. Edgar Hoover's FBI
The first FBI director wasn't all bad (or a cross-dresser). But he and the agency he created regularly flouted constitutional limits on power.
Nick Gillespie | 1.4.2023 11:00 AM
Colorado's Anti-Discrimination Law Forces Artists To Echo the State's Message
A website designer asks SCOTUS to let her eschew work that contradicts her opposition to gay marriage.
Jacob Sullum | 12.7.2022 12:01 AM
Senators Reach Bipartisan Deal to Pass Respect for Marriage Act Protecting Right to Same-Sex Marriage
The deal includes several amendments to the original draft legislation that are unlikely to have much substantive effect.
Ilya Somin |The Volokh Conspiracy | 11.14.2022 9:39 PM
Maj Toure: Why Black Guns—and Libertarianism—Matter
Gun control is 'the most racist practice in America,' says the Philadelphia native and community leader.
Nick Gillespie and Zach Weissmueller | 11.9.2022 11:00 AM
Brickbat: Tattoo You
Charles Oliver | 10.18.2022 4:00 AM
"A White Woman's Documentary About Muslim Extremists Is Being Canceled. Guess Why"
Eugene Volokh |The Volokh Conspiracy | 9.26.2022 12:15 PM
New Loan Program for Black, Latino Neighborhoods Isn't 'Explicitly Racist'
But Bank of America's Community Affordable Loan Solution program will likely be a gentrification accelerating machine.
Christian Britschgi | 9.2.2022 5:25 PM