Word: runyon
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...decision, revoking it after 15 years might be considered too politically and socially disruptive. However, a majority of the court, including Justice Kennedy, has already shown a willingness to re-examine well-established law. Last term the five conservative Justices stunned the legal community by voting to reconsider Runyon v. McCrary, an important 1976 civil rights decision. "This suggests a court where standing precedents are not sacred," says University of Virginia law professor A.E. Dick Howard...
Last week's rehearing was prompted by an employment-discrimination suit brought by a black woman, Brenda Patterson, against a North Carolina credit union -- an action relying on the Runyon precedent. Instead of deciding the Patterson suit on its own merits, the court voted last April to schedule a rehearing of Runyon itself. If the court reverses its earlier stand, it could deprive blacks of what has become a significant weapon against bias by employers or private schools. It will also undo a decision that has provided a basis for subsequent federal law and more than 100 lower-court rulings...
...last week's oral arguments, Julius Chambers, director-counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, argued against overturning Runyon by stressing that it had become a "significant part of the web of congressional and judicial efforts to rid the country of public and private discrimination." Surprisingly, when Manhattan attorney Roger Kaplan argued to overturn the ruling, conservative Justice Antonin Scalia, who had voted to rehear the case, asked from the bench, "Let's concede that ((Runyon)) is wrong. So what? What's special about this case to require us to go back and change our decision?" When Kaplan...
...final ruling on Runyon, due later this term, might signal the court's attitude toward other civil rights cases this term. In one, Richmond v. J.A. Croson Co., the Justices will pronounce on an affirmative-action "set aside" plan drawn up by the city of Richmond that requires city contractors to subcontract 30% of the dollar value of their contracts to minority firms. One of the main issues is whether Richmond can impose such a plan if there is no evidence that the city itself has ever discriminated. Invalidating the plan could jeopardize similar set-aside arrangements around the country...
...answer to conservatives' prayers?" asks Patrick McGuigan of the Free Congress Research and Education Foundation. "All the early data are good." Indeed, in 13 cases last term in which the court split 5 to 4, Kennedy voted with a conservative majority eight times, including the stunning decision to reconsider Runyon. Says University of Virginia government professor David O'Brien, a court specialist: "I sense clearly that the court will make a strong turn to the right in the area of social discrimination." If so, the ideological legacy of Ronald Reagan may last well into the 21st century...