MOUNT HOLLY TOWNSHIP V. MOUNT HOLLY GARDENS CITIZENS IN ACTION, INC. (U.S. SUPREME COURT, 2013)

In this case, the U.S. Supreme Court will review a key provision of the Fair Housing Act. Enacted in the wake of Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.'s tragic assassination in 1968, the Fair Housing Act is our nation's key tool to eradicate housing discrimination and promote more inclusive neighborhoods. The Mount Holly case raises the question whether the Fair Housing Act prohibits not just intentional bigotry but also unjustified practices that disproportionately exclude or harm people based on race, ethnicity, religion, family status, or other characteristics covered by the Act. This principle, known as the "disparate impact" standard, has been the law of the land for over four decades. In fact, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) issued regulations earlier this year that again confirm this approach. ADL joined an amicus brief filed on behalf of a coalition of organizations arguing that the Act's disparate impact component remains necessary to protect crucial anti-discrimination and desegregative interests that Congress targeted in passing and amending the Act and that the disparate impact standard is essential to realizing those benefits by addressing the myriad and evolving barriers to fair housing that continue to exist in the 21st century.