The Anti-Discrimination Paradox: How Federal Civil Rights Laws Afford Broader Protection from Discrimination than the Constitutional Provisions that Authorize Them

Abstract

Certain federal civil rights statutes allow proof of discrimination based on disparate-impact even though violations of the constitutional provisions that authorize the statutes also require proof of discriminatory intent. This is the anti-discrimination paradox.

The purpose of this article is to analyze the decisions of the United States Supreme court that underlay the anti-discrimination paradox. These cases reveal that Congress has authority under the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments to prohibit discriminatory conduct by statute that seeks to prevent or remedy violations of the substantive provisions of these constitutional amendments.

Keywords: civil rights, disparate impact, discrimination, federal, Constitution, Fourteenth Amendment, Fifteenth Amendment

JEL Classification: K10