Civil and Human Rights Coalition Urges Supreme Court to Preserve Fair Housing Act

WASHINGTON – Wade Henderson, president and CEO of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, issued the following statement in response to today’s Supreme Court oral argument in Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs vs. The Inclusive Communities Project. The case is a challenge to a central component of the Fair Housing Act:

“The Fair Housing Act is one of our nation’s bedrock civil rights laws and any rollback to its protections would be disastrous for our nation’s neighborhoods and communities. 

It defies logic for the Court to take a case challenging a central component of the Fair Housing Act, given the law’s transformative power over generations and the widespread bipartisan consensus that passed it in 1968, expanded it in 1988, and validated it in 11 federal circuit courts. The part of the law in question, known as “disparate impact” – involving policies or practices that have a discriminatory result regardless of its intent – was even codified into federal regulation last year by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

With unanimity in judicial, administrative, and congressional opinion on disparate impact, it would be a historic overreach for the Supreme Court to overturn this consensus. But given this Court’s gutting of the Voting Rights Act in 2013, anyone who cares about equal opportunity in America should be paying close attention to this case.

With residential segregation on the rise, a strong Fair Housing Act is as important now as it has been in the past. Robust and effective fair housing laws are a vital tool for ensuring equal opportunity. That’s why the Court should reject any attempt to weaken vital housing protections for families and communities.”

Wade Henderson is the president and CEO of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, a coalition charged by its diverse membership of more than 200 national organizations to promote and protect the rights of all persons in the United States. The Leadership Conference works toward an America as good as its ideals. For more information on The Leadership Conference and its 200-plus member organizations, visit www.civilrights.org.

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