How will the SCOTUS disparate impact case affect housing? What does the Glossip vs. Gross decision say about the death penalty status in the U.S.? Today host Carousel Bayrd discusses these Supreme Court cases with Matt Cherry, the executive director of Death Penalty Focus, and members of the Fair Housing Council Erika Sanders and Kori Schneider Peragine.
In Glossip vs. Gross, the Supreme Court ruled against 3 prisoners protesting the use of the drug midazolam, which they considered a violation of the 8th Amendment prohibiting cruel and unusual punishment. The drug is reported to not consistently put the prisoners in a state of deep unconsciousness before they are killed. The 5-4 decision was called after the prisoners were unable to suggest an alternative to the drug.
In Texas Department of Housing & Community Affairs v. The Inclusive Communities Project, Inc. Again in a 5-4 decision, the court upheld the application of disparate impact under the Fair Housing Act. A win for civil rights activists, the court endorsed a broad interpretation of discrimination claims allowed under the Fair Housing Act. Unintentional discrimination is still discrimination.
