Important victory in housing discrimination case

The Supreme Court has ruled that local governments have the right to sue banks for civil rights violations against, for example, city residents. In Bank of America Corp. v. City of Miami, the Supreme Court held that the City of Miami may continue to prosecute a case against Bank of America and Wells Fargo for evidently targeting African Americans and Latinos for more costly and risky home loans than those offered to Whites. Specifically, the Supreme Court agreed that Title VIII, also known as the Fair Housing Act, 42 U.S.C. §§ 3601, et seq., authorizes the City of Miami to continue pursuing predatory lending and, thus, lending discrimination claims that grow out of the recent Wall-Street-driven housing crisis.

In some sense, the ruling should not be surprising. The courts have long recognized that the Fair Housing Act must be interpreted and applied as broadly as possible to advance the twin policies codified by that law. Those compelling policies are ending discrimination based on any protected class and promoting racially integrated communities. Notably, Congress adopted the Fair Housing Act under the 13th Amendment to the United States Constitution – which abolished slavery. Indeed, discrimination and the often accompanying segregation in the housing context have long been recognized by Congress and the courts as vestiges of slavery.

Although Bank of America technically only concerns the Fair Housing Act, the decision should have a far reaching and positive impact under Title VII, 42 U.S.C. §§ 2000e, et seq., and other employment law and civil rights statutes. In particular, this case reaffirms the clearly established principle in employment law and civil rights cases that a plaintiff can prosecute an employment or civil rights claim against a defendant when the harm allegedly caused is “arguably within the zone of interests” protected by the law.