Here's a strong connection between the Ricci case and Monday's lecture. The case involves the constitutionality of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, which focuses on equal employment opportunity.
Here are the questions presented to the court.
Here is ScotusWiki's partial summary of the petitioners argument:
In their brief on the merits, petitioners expand upon the arguments made in their second cert. petition. They argue that all race-based government actions are subject to strict scrutiny. When the City acted to benefit minorities, by dismissing the results of tests that made minority promotions more difficult, it correspondingly denied the white firefighters promotions because they were white – a quintessential race-based government action. Indeed, petitioners note, the City acted solely based upon racially-calibrated test results. Thus, even if the City’s refusal to certify the results was not racially motivated on its face, it should be found to be merely a pretext to deny whites promotions.
Petitioners next contend that avoiding disparate impact cannot be a compelling governmental interest, as this would allow racial balancing and enable employers to “surrender to organized racial lobbies.” Moreover, even if compliance with Title VII were a compelling interest, the City should be required to show “strong evidence” that disparate impact in fact occurred before acting to prevent that disparate impact.
