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Recent Articles

Initiating Remedies for Our Unconstitutional and Unlawful Residential Segregation

Richard Rothstein

In 1866, Congress passed a Civil Rights Act outlawing burdens on freed slaves not also imposed on free whites, reasoning that racial discrimination—both public and private—undermined effective emancipation. However, subsequent Supreme Court jurisprudence did not honor or uphold this law and its progeny. Had it done so, the hard-fought promise of equality would not have been broken, the America we know today would not be so racially segregated, and the “badges and incidents” of slavery could have been timely eliminated. The racial segregation of America’s neighborhoods is not, as was long thought, merely the result of private activities such as unethical mortgage lending and the use of racially restrictive covenants. (more…)

Gilead: Municipal Liability for Punitive Damages Under the Fair Housing Act

Robert G. Schwemm

The 1968 Fair Housing Act (“FHA”) has always been understood to apply to local governments, which have proved to be among the most frequent and significant violators of this law, especially in their opposition to housing of particular value to racial minorities and persons with disabilities. Yet not until the Second Circuit’s decision last year in Gilead Community Services, Inc. v. Town of Cromwell did an appellate court approve an FHA-based punitive-damage award against a municipality. Before Gilead, district courts had generally blocked such awards, applying § 1983’s immunities to protect local governments and their officials from the FHA’s full set of remedies. In rejecting this approach, Gilead charts a new course, offering a potential breakthrough for deterring municipal housing discrimination. (more…)

Legal and Policy Responses to Sexual Harassment in Housing

Rigel C. Oliveri

The sexual harassment of low-income women by their housing providers is a clear national problem that has only recently become the focus of coordinated nationwide enforcement efforts by federal agencies, including the Department of Justice. While these developments are welcome, the problem requires proactive responses as well. (more…)

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