Colorado Real Estate Journal – Supreme Court to Review Validity of ‘Effects Tests’ in Fair Housing Litigation

Since the Fair Housing Act passed, courts, local governments, and private landowners have operated under the impression that housing policies or practices having a discriminatory effect violate the FHA. This year, however, the U.S. Supreme Court will question this longstanding assumption in a case dealing with urban renewal. Given the Supreme Court’s conservative majority, it is possible that review of a law or policy’s effect – often called disparate impact review – will be invalidated. If the Court rejects disparate impact review, fair housing plaintiffs will have greater difficulty invalidating practices and policies that are not clearly discriminatory or passed with an intent to discriminate.

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