Monday, February 17, 2014

(Part 3--White Wins vs Minority Wins) The Supremes' Record in Racial Discrimination Cases: Decisional & Voting Figures for the Roberts Court

Yes, putting it bluntly: White Wins vs Minority Wins.
In cases involving complaints of racial discrimination or related civil rights issues, how often did the Court uphold claims brought by Whites? How often did it uphold claims brought by Racial Minorities?

In the previous installments in this series, we saw that the Roberts Court's record on racial equality, in the most general sense, has been about 50-50. That is, decisions favoring the side pressing for equal racial protection in about half of the cases--and, therefore, against that side in about half. (See part 1.)

We then looked inside those figures. They did not mean that the Court was protecting racial minorities half the time. No. What we saw was that the Court sided with racial minority protection in only a quarter of those cases. That is, it ruled against the side arguing for racial minority protection 3 times as often as it ruled for that side. (See part 2.)

Among the obvious questions:
So, who is winning in the racial equal protection cases?
If the Court is siding with racial equality half of the time, but with racial minorities only a quarter of the time, who is it siding with the rest of the time--i.e., in the remaining three quarters of the cases?

Well, some things seem evident from the numbers themselves:
The Court has been siding with the individuals, businesses or government entities that have been accused of racial discrimination more frequently than with the racial minorities making the accusations.
So too, the Court has been siding with the individuals, businesses or government entities that have opposed measures intended to protect racial minorities more frequently than it has enforced or upheld such protective measures.

But, again, let's just be blunt:
How often have claims brought by Whites been winning at the Roberts Court?
And, by contrast, how often have claims brought by Racial Minorities been winning?

To begin, take a look:
(click graphs to enlarge)
 Yes, 100%. Every case in which White claimants complained that they were the victims of racial discrimination or protested some governmental measure adopted to enforce civil rights, they won.

That's 7 out of the 7 such cases decided by the Roberts Court. These are cases where White claimants complained about affirmative action policies, about measures to insure diversity in employment and diversity in public schools, about provisions of the Voting Rights Act, about judicial redistricting to prevent the dilution of minority political power, and the like.

Well, you might think, perhaps the Court is just very very sensitive to the possibility of any discrimination or differentiation based on race. Perhaps the Court is just very very vigorous in enforcing equal treatment for all--for Whites and racial minorities alike.

OK, then let's look at the Roberts Court's record when racial minorities have complained of discrimination or sought enforcement of civil rights. How frequently have racial minority claimants won? Take a look:
 Hmmm. Not exactly the 100% rate at which White claimants have been winning. In fact, racial minority claimants have been winning at the Roberts Court at less than half the rate that White claimants have.

Keep in mind, these are cases involving constitutional equal protection and civil rights laws and other measures adopted to address the historic discrimination and mistreatment of racial minorities. Historic discrimination and mistreatment which just happened to be at the hands of the White majority.

And yet, the Roberts Court has been far more solicitous of claims brought by Whites than by racial minorities. Whatever the explanation, and however one might wish to characterize such a record--wise or foolish, color blind or race-conscious, benignly indifferent or mean-spirited, perfectly reasonable or highly suspect--the record is what it is.
[Non-surprising disclosure: I think that record is perverse.]

There have been 11 cases decided by the Roberts Court where the claimants were racial minorities complaining of racial discrimination in various contexts--e.g., employment, business dealings, prison, and jury selection. In these cases--as opposed to those where complaints brought by Whites succeeded 100% of the time--the complaints brought by racial minorities failed most of the time.

Let's now put the figures for White Wins and Racial Minority Wins side by side. The visual makes the contrast--[in my view, rather stunning]--even clearer than the raw numbers can.
 That's 7 out of 7 wins before the Roberts Court for White claimants; 5 out of 11 wins for racial minority claimants. Again, whatever the explanation, that is the record.

One last thing--at least for the time being. Might the Roberts Court's record be different, and the contrast between White Wins and Racial Minority Wins be less drastic, if we considered only those very close cases. The cases in which the Court divided, the Justices had different views, there were dissenting opinions?

Maybe racial minority claimants lost so often because they just happened to be clearly wrong on the law in some of the cases. Maybe, in those cases where there was some merit to their claims--i.e., where there were Justices who agreed with them--racial minority claimants won more frequently.

Ok, let's look at the Roberts Court's record in only the divided cases:
Well, racial minority claimants didn't fare any better in those closest of cases where the Court split. No, even in those cases where the complaints registered by racial minorities were strong enough that at least some of the Justices thought they were meritorious, racial minority claimants still lost most of the time.

White claimants won in all the cases where they registered complaints--whether the Court's decision was divided or unanimous. Racial minority claimants won in less than half of the cases where they were the ones who were complaining--whether a divided or unanimous decision resulted.

As we noted previously, considering all the claims they brought involving issues of racial discrimination, racial minorities won in 5 of 11 cases (45%). Considering only those claims which resulted in divided decisions, racial minorities won in 3 of 7 cases (43%). Proportionately, virtually identical.

So there it is. And, to the question posed at the outset: "So, who is winning in the racial equal protection cases?" The answer: White claimants. And who's losing most of the time? Racial minority claimants.

At best, a most curious record for the Roberts Court.

In the next installment in this series, we'll start to look at the voting records of the individual Justices.
Yep, stay tuned.