I'm working my way through Michelle Alexander's "The New Jim Crow" right now.

The US Supreme Court jurisprudence preventing the litigation of allegations of racial discrimination is really outrageous.

For example, Alexander v Sandoval (2001) outright denies a private right of action under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 in cases of disparate impact.

Disparate impact is when a policy notably negatively affects a minority group compared to the general population.

McCleskey v Kamp (1987) did something similar, requiring proof of intent (not disparate impact) to allege racial discrimination in death penalty cases. Proof of intent is almost impossible to show unless the prosecutor is stupid enough to go off on a racist rant sometime.

I knew it was bad, but not that bad.

#NewJimCrow #CivilRightsAct #RacialDiscrimination #RacialBias #Statistics #DisparateImpact #Sandoval #McCleskey #SCOTUS