Magner v. Gallagher
On January 30, 2012 the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, all eight of its affiliates and 16 other civil rights organizations filed an amicus curiae brief in the Supreme Court of the United States in the case of Magner v. Gallagher. The brief supports the conclustion that the Fair Housing Act permits the pursuit of disparate impact claims to substantiate allegations of discrimination. The disposition of this case is of particular importance to fair housing enforcement. Consquently, this is the most important fair housing case heard by the Supreme Court in decades.
Click here to read the Supreme Court brief
Cuomo v. The Clearing House Association
On March 4, 2009, three national civil rights organizations — the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, National Fair Housing Alliance and the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. — filed an amicus curiae, “friend of the court,” brief in the Supreme Court of the United States in the case of Cuomo v. The Clearing House Association, L.L.C. The brief supports the New York Attorney General’s continued efforts to enforce state fair lending laws against national banks and asks the Supreme Court to reverse the Second Circuit Court of Appeals’ ruling halting such enforcement. The Lawyers’ Committee also filed amicus curiae briefs when the case was being heard by the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York and the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.
Click here to read the press release for the Supreme Court brief here.
Click here to read the Supreme Court brief.
Click here to read the Circuit Court brief.
Click here to read the District Court brief.
Bloch v. Frischholz
In February 2009, the Lawyers’ Committee, the Chicago Lawyers’ Committee, and the law firm of Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP prepared a brief for the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit on behalf of the Lawyers’ Committee, its local affiliates, the National Fair Housing Alliance, and the Chicago Fair Housing Alliance in the case of Bloch v. Frischholz. The court was hearing the case en banc after a three judge panel rejected the plaintiff’s appeal of the District Court’s summary judgment decision. The case pertains to post-acquisition discrimination in the terms and conditions of the sale or rental of housing. The Shoreline Towers Condominium Association adopted and enforced a rule prohibiting the posting of any objects on materials in the building’s hallways. As a result of the Association’s enforcement of this rule, Lynne Bloch, a Jewish resident, repeatedly had her mezuzah, a parchment with scriptural verses placed inside of a small casing, removed from her doorframe. Observant Jews are required to havemezuzot posted at the entrances to their homes. The plaintiffs have argued that the policy and its enforcement amounted to the constructive eviction of observant Jewish residents. On November 13, the en banc court unanimously reversed the panel decision and circuit precedent, remanding the case to the district court for trial.
Click here to read the Circuit Court brief.
Click here to read the en banc Circuit Court decision.
Click here to read the press release for the en banc Circuit Court decision.
