News & Analysis as of

Equal Protection

The Equal Protection Clause is a section of the 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution that provides that "no state shall...deny to any citizen within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the... more +
The Equal Protection Clause is a section of the 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution that provides that "no state shall...deny to any citizen within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws." Essentially, the Equal Protection Clause provides that the government must treat an individual the same way that it treats other individuals in the same circumstances. The 14th Amendment Equal Protection Clause applies only to state governments, but the requirements of the clause apply to the federal government through the Due Process Clause of the 5th Amendment. less -
Akerman LLP - HR Defense

Supreme Court Eliminates “Background Circumstances” Test in Reverse Discrimination Cases: What Employers Need to Know

Akerman LLP - HR Defense on

In a landmark ruling significantly changing how workplace discrimination claims are litigated, the U.S. Supreme Court has removed a major barrier for plaintiffs alleging “reverse discrimination” claims under Title VII. In...more

Littler

Federal Court Partially Blocks Enforcement of Parts of Executive Orders on DEI and Gender Identity

Littler on

On June 9, 2025, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California issued a ruling in San Francisco AIDS Foundation v. Trump, temporarily blocking the enforcement of several provisions in executive orders issued...more

Polsinelli

Supreme Court Rejects Heightened Evidentiary Requirement for Majority Groups in Title VII Cases

Polsinelli on

What You Need to Know: Equal Protection Under Title VII: On June 5, 2025, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously ruled that Title VII’s protections apply equally to all individuals, regardless of whether they are in a...more

Woods Rogers

Supreme Court Reaffirms Equal Access to Title VII Protections

Woods Rogers on

In a unanimous decision issued June 5, 2025, the U.S. Supreme Court in Ames v. Ohio Department of Youth Services vacated a Sixth Circuit ruling that imposed a higher evidentiary burden on majority-group plaintiffs in Title...more

Seyfarth Shaw LLP

Supreme Court Rejects Heightened Prima Facie “Background Circumstances” Test for Majority Group Plaintiffs

Seyfarth Shaw LLP on

In a unanimous decision, the Supreme Court vacated the dismissal of a heterosexual woman’s Title VII claims, concluding that she was improperly subjected to a heightened prima facie standard that required her to show...more

Lathrop GPM

U.S. Supreme Court Says “Reverse Discrimination” Is Equally Unlawful - Clarifies Standard for Majority-Group Plaintiffs in Title...

Lathrop GPM on

The U.S. Supreme Court today swung wide open the door for all persons who experience employment discrimination based on their race, color, religion, sex or national origin to bring suit under Title VII of the 1964 Civil...more

Ballard Spahr LLP

Texas Judge Strikes EEOC Guidance Protecting Transgender Employees

Ballard Spahr LLP on

A federal judge in Texas issued a decision on May 15, 2025, striking down portions of the EEOC’s Enforcement Guidance on protections against employment discrimination based on gender identity and/or sexual orientation....more

Constangy, Brooks, Smith & Prophete, LLP

The demise of disadvantaged business enterprises

Constangy, Brooks, Smith & Prophete, LLP on

The U.S. DOT agrees to end contract goals for DBEs. In 1983, Congress enacted the Disadvantaged Business Enterprise Program, which requires that the Department of Transportation spend ten percent of federal highway...more

Schwabe, Williamson & Wyatt PC

DOT’s DBE Program Faces Major Overhaul After Lawsuit Settlement Proposal

Schwabe, Williamson & Wyatt PC on

In Mid-America Milling Company v. United States Department of Transportation, Case No. 3:23-cv-00072 (“Mid-America”), the Plaintiffs challenged the United States Department of Transportation’s (“DOT”) use of a rebuttable...more

PilieroMazza PLLC

DBE Program in Peril: Recent Legal Challenges and What They Mean for Women- and Minority-Owned Contractors

PilieroMazza PLLC on

Recent legal challenges jeopardize the future of the Department of Transportation’s (DOT) Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE) program, a long-standing initiative designed to support minority- and women-owned businesses in...more

Goulston & Storrs PC

Equal Protection Not on the Menu This Time

Goulston & Storrs PC on

In North End Chamber of Commerce (“NECC”) v. City of Boston, the NECC and several restaurants in the North End neighborhood of Boston (“Plaintiffs”) filed suit against the City of Boston (“City”), alleging that the City...more

Epstein Becker & Green

Disparate Impact Liability Under Fire

Epstein Becker & Green on

On Wednesday, April 23, 2025, President Trump signed EO 14281, titled Restoring Equality of Opportunity and Meritocracy (EO), stating a new Trump Administration policy “to eliminate the use of disparate-impact liability in...more

Offit Kurman

Due Process in South Carolina Then and Now: Lessons from George Stinney's Case

Offit Kurman on

George Stinney was fourteen years old when he was arrested for the murder of Betty June Binnicker and Mary Emma Thames in Alcolu, South Carolina. He is one of the youngest Americans sentenced to death and executed in the 20th...more

Foley & Lardner LLP

Achieving DEI Compliance…On Your Website

Foley & Lardner LLP on

Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI) efforts, and the term itself, have become increasingly scrutinized and subjected to legal challenges by both government and private actors, making an understanding of the current DEI...more

Vorys, Sater, Seymour and Pease LLP

New Executive Order Seeks to Eliminate Disparate-Impact Liability

Vorys, Sater, Seymour and Pease LLP on

On April 23, 2025, President Trump issued an executive order (EO) titled Restoring Equality of Opportunity and Meritocracy.  This EO seeks to eliminate the use of disparate-impact liability in various contexts, arguing that...more

Frantz Ward LLP

Trump Attempts to Eliminate Disparate Impact Theory via Recent Executive Order

Frantz Ward LLP on

The disparate impact theory has long been used to argue that an employer’s facially neutral policy has a detrimental effect on a protected class of individuals. An often cited example is the use of an arrest to reject an...more

CDF Labor Law LLP

Federal Agencies Directed to End Enforcement of Disparate Impact Discrimination Claims Under President Trump’s New Executive Order

CDF Labor Law LLP on

On April 23, 2025, President Trump issued an Executive Order entitled “Restoring Equality of Opportunity and Meritocracy” (“Executive Order”). This Executive Order is one in a series issued by President Trump with the goal of...more

Seyfarth Shaw LLP

New Executive Order Directs Federal Agencies to Deprioritize Disparate Impact: What Employers Need to Know Now

Seyfarth Shaw LLP on

On April 23, 2025, President Trump issued an Executive Order entitled “Restoring Equality of Opportunity and Meritocracy.” The Order declares a sweeping new federal policy: “It is the policy of the United States to eliminate...more

Troutman Pepper Locke

Navigating DEI in a Shifting Legal Landscape

Troutman Pepper Locke on

Workplace diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs face more scrutiny than ever in light of President Trump’s recent executive orders regarding DEI policies and programs across the public and private sectors, recent...more

Jackson Lewis P.C.

Judge Blocks DHS Secretary Noem’s Termination of Venezuelan TPS

Jackson Lewis P.C. on

Recission of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for approximately 350,000 Venezuelans has been halted temporarily. U.S. District Court Judge Edward Chen’s Order applies to Venezuelans who registered for TPS under the Oct. 3,...more

Pullman & Comley, LLC

Is a Civil Rights Lawsuit by Private Parties a Means to Enforce a Federal Free Choice of Medicaid Provider Provision? A Spending...

Pullman & Comley, LLC on

CASE AT A GLANCE - In 2018, Planned Parenthood South Atlantic (PPSAT) and one of its patients, Julie Edwards, sued the administrator of South Carolina’s Medicaid program to enforce the “free choice of Medicaid provider”...more

Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart,...

Wisconsin Court of Appeals Finds Taxpayer-Funded College Grant Program to Be Unconstitutional

Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart,... on

On February 26, 2025, the Wisconsin Court of Appeals, District II, determined that a program that provided taxpayer-funded educational grants to financially needy students of specific racial, national origin, and ancestry...more

Meyers Nave

Ninth Circuit Rules on Caste as a Protected Class in CSU’s Anti-Discrimination Policy

Meyers Nave on

On March 12, 2025, the Ninth Circuit issued its decision in Kumar v. Koester, dismissing a constitutional challenge to a university’s anti-discrimination policy that added “caste” as a protected class. Effective January 1,...more

McDermott Will & Emery

Fourth Circuit Stays Preliminary Injunction of Executive Orders Related to DEI Programs

McDermott Will & Emery on

On March 14, 2025, the US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit issued a stay on the US District Court for the District of Maryland’s nationwide preliminary injunction of US President Donald Trump’s executive orders (EOs)...more

Jackson Lewis P.C.

New Trump 2.0 Travel Ban Expected to Target 40+ Countries: What You Need to Know

Jackson Lewis P.C. on

The Trump Administration is reportedly finalizing a new travel ban that will prohibit or severely limit the citizens of more than 40 countries from entering the United States. On Jan. 20, 2025, President Donald Trump signed...more

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