I’ve posted a few pieces on this blog about how Thomas Perez, the Justice Department’s top civil rights law enforcer, arranged a highly unusual quid pro quo with the city of St. Paul, Minn., to get it to drop a legal challenge that was headed to the Supreme Court. Congressional Republicans are looking into the deal now that Perez is the White House’s pick to be labor secretary.
The details of the deal are eyebrow-raising enough, but the incident has a larger importance. The city’s case could have resulted in a significant Supreme Court ruling limiting the use of the “disparate impact” theory in civil rights law. Perez is a major advocate of the theory, which sets a very low bar for proving discrimination. Under it, prosecutors need not prove intent, merely that minorities have suffered a disparate impact from some action.
A post by Ken Masugi at the free market Liberty Law Blog, explains how Perez would be able to use “disparate impact” as labor secretary:
It is becoming distressingly clear that Perez would apply the Chicago-style politics of President Obama to not only the regulatory but the social agenda as well. Perez would achieve these radical aims through the obscure Office of Federal Contract Compliance and Programs (OFCCP), headed by a deputy assistant secretary-level Director who does not require Senate confirmation. [iii] The new Secretary of Labor will shape policy directly, as the OFCCP as of November 2009 now reports directly to his Office.
Read the whole thing here.
