The Supreme Court sided with Comcast as the cable provider defends itself in a discrimination lawsuit brought by Entertainment Studios Network founder Byron Allen.
The court agreed to hear Allen’s case last year but chose to focus on his standing to bring the suit rather than making a final decision in the case. The court’s unanimous decision voided an earlier ruling by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals and sent the case back down for the lower court to rehear.
“We have two statutes with two distinct histories and not a shred of evidence that Congress meant them to incorporate the same causation standard,” Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote in the court’s majority opinion.
“All the traditional tools of statutory interpretation persuade us that [Section 1981] follows the usual rules, not any exception,” Gorsuch wrote. “To prevail, a plaintiff must initially plead and ultimately prove that, but for race, it would not have suffered the loss of a legally protected right.”
Allen sued Comcast in 2015 after the cable provider refused to carry six television channels owned by Allen’s company. Allen, who is black, accused Comcast of discrimination and alleged that his race played a “motivating factor” in Comcast’s decision.
The Supreme Court took up the question of whether Allen could legally bring the lawsuit claiming that race contributed to Comcast’s decision when, to win the case, he must prove that race was the primary factor, known in court as a “but for” standard. Allen brought his case under Section 1981 of the Civil Rights Act of 1866, enacted after the Civil War to support the rights of former slaves.
The court has historically maintained a “but for” standard for lawsuits brought under the 19th-century law. Allen argued that the threshold for hearing his case, but not deciding, should be much lower than the standard now used under a separate civil rights code, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
Comcast applauded the high court’s decision, and Allen condemned it.
“Unfortunately, the Supreme Court has rendered a ruling that is harmful to the civil rights of millions of Americans,” Allen said in a statement. “This is a very bad day for our country. We will continue our fight by going to Congress and the presidential candidates to revise the statute to overcome this decision by the United States Supreme Court, which significantly diminishes our civil rights.”
