1. Washington v. Davis, (1976)
2. Facts: The D.C. police department administers an entrance examination which tests reading and writing communication skills. The test was developed by the U.S. Civil Service Commission, and is the same test used generally throughout the civil service. Statistically, more blacks than whites failed the test.
3. Procedural Posture: The district court found that the test was not discriminatory merely because of the effect. However, the court of appeals applied Griggs (which was applicable to Title VII cases), to invalidate it solely on its disparate statistical effect.
4. Issue: Whether the D.C. police department employment exam is a violation of equal protection due to its de facto effect of more blacks failing than whites.
5. Holding: No.
6. Majority Reasoning: A facially neutral statute or policy can still be discriminatory in effect. The invidious discriminatory purpose behind it may be inferred from the totality of the relevant facts, including the statistical evidence that it bears more heavily on one race rather than another. Nevertheless, a law does not violate equal protection simply because it may affect a greater proportion of one race than another. The D.C. police department has the legitimate interest of setting minimum standards for its police officers. That blacks did not score as well as whites does not demonstrate racial discrimination. Also, there is also evidence that the police department actively and aggressively recruits black officers, so there is no inference of racially discriminative motive. The more rigorous standard of Griggs (requiring the defendant to “validate” the requirements) is only applicable to Title VII cases, not 14th or 5th amendment equal protection.
7. Concurrence Reasoning: [Stevens] felt that bare statistics may be probative enough in some situations to demonstrate racial discrimination (such as in Yick Wo) without more. But here, the statistics were not probative enough because the D.C. police only represented a small sample of those taking the test.
8. Notes: In Arlington Heights v. Metropolitan Housing Corp., the court reaffirmed Davis, holding that although the “ultimate effect” of a law may be racially discriminatory, it will not violate equal protection absent “proof of racially discriminatory intent or purpose.” “Subjects of proper inquiry” to determine intent would be the history leading up to the enactment of the law, whether the statistical effect was grossly lopsided (as in Yick Wo), and departures from normal procedural sequence. Even if an improper motivation can be shown, the city could still provide evidence that the law would be sustainable on otherwise valid grounds.
