The Northwest Austin MUD and Ricci Civil Rights Cases: A View From the Podium

Speaker:

• Gregory S. Coleman, Yetter, Warden & Coleman, L.L.P.

Former Texas Solicitor General Gregory S. Coleman is arguing two important civil rights cases to before the U.S. Supreme Court this term, Northwest Austin M.U.D. v. Holder and Ricci v. DeStefano. Mr. Coleman will present his thoughts on the oral arguments and the implications of these cases for the Court's civil rights jurisprudence.

Northwest Austin M.U.D. v. Holder challenges the constitutionality of the preclearance provisions of the Voting Rights Act. It presents the question of whether the Petitioner utility district is eligible to "bail out" from the preclearance requirement, and whether Congress provided sufficient justification of current voting discrimination when extended the requirement in 2006 for another twenty-five years.

Ricci v. DeStefano concerns firefighters' claims that New Haven city officials violated the Equal Protection Clause and Title VII by discarding the results of certain civil-service examinations to achieve racial proportionality in candidates selected. Petitioners qualified for promotion under a race-blind, merit-selection process mandated by local law but were denied the positions by the city because of their race and racial disparities in the examinations' outcome. City officials refused to promote the successful candidates and left the vacancies unfilled, intending to repeat the competition with the aim of awarding a higher proportion of the promotions to minority candidates.

Mr. Coleman heads Yetter, Warden & Coleman's appellate litigation practice.

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