The Supreme Court Announces Heightened Standards for Justifying Race-Based Remedial Efforts Under Title VII

In one of the most significant rulings of this 2009 term, the Supreme Court today announced in Ricci v. DeStefano that employers must have a "strong basis in evidence" for taking race-conscious remedial actions in response to concerns that their employment practices would have a disparate impact based on race, national origin, gender, or other unlawful classifications under Title VII. The Court split 5-4 in an opinion authored by Justice Anthony Kennedy, and ruled that a statistically significant disparity alone would not be sufficient to meet this heightened standard. Employers should review their efforts to avoid disparate impact claims and their diversity practices in light of the increased risk of reverse discrimination claims under this decision.

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