Led by Justice Kennedy, the Supreme Court struck down the 2nd Circuit’s decision in Ricci v. Destefano (pdf) this morning. He was joined by Justices Alito, Scalia, Thomas, and Roberts. The decision shows a conservative-leaning court interpreting Title VII in its original spirit, which was to be completely colorblind:
Without some other justification, this express, race-based decisionmaking violates Title VII’s command that employers
cannot take adverse employment actions because of an individual’s race. (p. 19)
It’s worth noting that the balance of Justices in this case is exactly the same as it was in Heller. When the question of incorporating the 2nd Amendment under the aegis of the 14th comes before the Court next year, we should be able to expect a 5-4 margin.
Our current situation is strikingly similar to the one existing between 1930 and 1937 in the Hughes Court. Much of Roosevelt’s early New Deal legislation was stalled by a bloc of conservative Justices comprised of McReynolds, Devanter, Sutherland and Butler. Continued...