{"id":454,"date":"2026-06-13T07:07:56","date_gmt":"2026-06-13T07:07:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nationallogisticspost.com\/?p=454"},"modified":"2026-06-13T07:07:56","modified_gmt":"2026-06-13T07:07:56","slug":"doj-and-thomas-sowell-disparate-impact-is-often-unconstitutional","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nationallogisticspost.com\/?p=454","title":{"rendered":"DOJ and Thomas Sowell: Disparate Impact Is Often Unconstitutional"},"content":{"rendered":"
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I<\/span>n June 2026, the Department of Justice (DOJ) released an <\/span>opinion<\/span> arguing that the \u201c[Equal Employment Opportunity Commission\u2019s] Title VII guidelines are unconstitutional because they contemplate liability based on disparate effects alone, without regard to an employer\u2019s likely intent, and pressure employers to engage in race-based decisionmaking. Properly understood, disparate-impact liability proscribes only those practices that reflect a significant likelihood of intentional discrimination.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Twenty-seven years prior, social theorist Thomas Sowell <\/span>argued<\/span> that in order to have the rule of law, the rules must be \u201c<\/span>known in advance<\/span><\/i>.\u201d Disparate impact often works retroactively, which ruins this advanced knowledge. Thus, it degrades the rule of law.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

As Sowell noted,\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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An employer cannot avoid a charge of racial discrimination merely by treating all employees and all job applicants the same regardless of their race. \u201cDisparate impact\u201d statistics will help determine <\/span>after the fact<\/span><\/i> whether the employer\u2019s conduct is judged to be discriminatory toward minorities \u2014 or whether it represented \u201creverse discrimination\u201d against some members of the majority population. Before the fact, there is often no way to know which way a court trial would turn out. In short, there is no rule of law.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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Disparate impact can be used to determine discrimination based on results, not processes.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n

Disparate impact can be used to determine discrimination based on results, not processes. If the process was equal toward all, yet the results were not, then there is potential for discrimination to be ruled \u2014 retroactively \u2014 the cause of the disparity. To Sowell, getting judged retroactively instead of knowing the rules in advance is quite dangerous because this can lead to a \u201closs of confidence in the law and the courts [which] undermines civic morale and the cohesiveness of society in general.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Sowell thus contends that you can have equal processes (rule of law) or equal results (cosmic justice), but you cannot have both. If one seeks equal results, one will inevitably mess around with the process in order to \u201cfix\u201d results in particular ways; the playing field will get tilted \u2014 to use an analogy of Sowell\u2019s \u2014 in favor of some individuals and tilted out of favor for other individuals. Conversely, if one seeks equal processes (rule of law), one will inevitably have unequal results; the playing field will remain level, yet some individuals will excel more than others.\u00a0(RELATED: <\/strong><\/span>Bolts From the Blue: Thomas Sowell and the Court<\/strong>)<\/strong><\/p>\n

Seeking to avoid disparate impact liability is supposed to minimize discrimination, but often it just creates discrimination. The DOJ\u2019s opinion explains how, in <\/span>Ricci v. DeStefano<\/span><\/i>, a test was administered to firefighters that was \u201cfacially neutral\u201d and \u201cobjective\u201d to see which firefighters would get career advancements; however, the problem was that \u201cwhite firefighters outperformed other firefighters on the exam,\u201d which put the fire department in a bind: \u201ckeep the test results and potentially face disparate-impact liability, or toss the results and deny promotions to deserving candidates based solely on \u2018the statistical racial disparity.\u2019\u201d\u00a0(RELATED: <\/strong><\/span>The DEI Business Case Is Falling Apart<\/strong>)<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Notice how Sowell argues that an employer can treat all applicants\/employees the same and <\/span>still<\/span><\/i> get hit with a disparate impact violation if outcomes \u2014 such as promotions, job hires, etc. \u2014 are shown to statistically favor one protected group over another. In other words, disparate impact liability forces an employer to <\/span>not<\/span><\/i> treat all applicants\/employees the same, but instead causes employers to finesse the process so that the outcomes are equal. The DOJ opinion recognized this problem as well: \u201cBy pressuring employers to take race-based actions in the name of proactively addressing potential statistical disparities, disparate-impact liability allows the government to engage in race discrimination indirectly.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Of course, there are cases when an employer is engaging in discrimination that results in disparate impacts. So we should not throw out the baby with the bathwater. Instead, the DOJ\u2019s opinion seeks to constrain disparate impact liability to make sure that it is applied correctly and does not create the very discrimination it seeks to eliminate.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

To do this, the DOJ proposes three constraints on disparate-impact liability. First, \u201c[o]nly practices . . . that have no plausible job-relatedness\u201d qualify. In other words, liability only occurs when there is no connection between what the employer requires applicants\/employees to do and the job itself.<\/span><\/p>\n

Second, the DOJ argues that liability occurs only if the disparate impact \u201csatisfies a robust causality requirement.\u201d Many disparities are not caused by discrimination, as much of Sowell\u2019s <\/span>writings have shown<\/span>, and thus the cause of the disparity must clearly be based in \u201cintentional discrimination\u201d to reach this DOJ threshold \u2014 \u201cthe plaintiff must continue to shoulder the burden of proving causation.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Third, the \u201cplaintiff must identify an alternative employment practice and prove both that it would have less disparate impact and be equally effective.\u201d Again, the burden of proof lies on the plaintiff and not the employer to demonstrate this alternative solution.<\/span><\/p>\n

Overall, this opinion from the DOJ is a step in the right direction because it constrains the application of disparate-impact statistics, statistics that could be used retroactively to scare employers into treating applicants\/employees unequally. The opinion also helps restore the rule of law because it is specific in the ways in which employers could face disparate-impact liability. The rules, then, are once again \u201c<\/span>known in advance<\/span><\/i>,\u201d which is a minimum requirement for the rule of law to flourish.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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READ MORE from Joshua Parcha:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Bolts From the Blue: Thomas Sowell and the Court<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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