The Supreme Court in recent decades has set a higher bar for some anti-discrimination laws, ruling that plaintiffs must prove that illegal bias was the actual cause of an employer’s decision to fire or not hire someone. But the 9th Circuit said the older civil rights law made clear that African Americans were entitled to the “same rights” to make contracts. “If discriminatory intent plays any role in a defendant’s decision not to contract with a plaintiff, even if it is merely one factor and not the sole cause of the decision, then that plaintiff has not enjoyed the same right as a white citizen,” Judge Milan D. Smith Jr. wrote in a 3-0 decision.

Source: Los Angeles Times June 10, 2019 14:16 UTC