Saint Francis College v. al-Khazraji
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| Saint Francis College v. al-Khazraji | ||||||||||
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| Argued February 25, 1987 Decided May 18, 1987 |
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| Holding | ||||||||||
| The Court held that persons of Arabian ancestry were protected from racial discrimination under Section 1981. | ||||||||||
| Court membership | ||||||||||
| Chief Justice: William Rehnquist Associate Justices: William J. Brennan, Jr., Byron White, Thurgood Marshall, Harry Blackmun, Lewis F. Powell, Jr., John Paul Stevens, Sandra Day O'Connor, Antonin Scalia |
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| Case opinions | ||||||||||
| Majority by: White Joined by: Marshall, Blackmun, Powell Jr., Stevens, O'Connor, Scalia Concurrence by: Brennan |
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| Laws applied | ||||||||||
| 42 U.S.C. Section 1981, Civil Rights Act of 1964 | ||||||||||
Saint Francis College v. al-Khazraji, 481 U.S. 604 (1987), is a case decided by the United States Supreme Court.
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[edit] Background
Al-Khazraji, a professor and U.S. citizen born in Iraq, filed suit against his former employer and its tenure committee for denying him tenure on the basis of his Arabian race in violation of 42 U.S.C. Section 1981. The District Court held that while Al-Kharzraji had properly alleged racial discrimination, the record was insufficient to determine whether he had been subjected to prejudice.
The question posed was "Did 42 U.S.C. Section 1981 apply to Arab minorities?"
[edit] Holding
In response to this question the Court held that persons of Arabian ancestry were protected from racial discrimination under Section 1981. Writing for a unanimous Court, Justice Byron R. White maintained that section 1981 encompassed discrimination even among Caucasians. Justice White noted that history did not support the claim that Arabs and other present-day "Caucasians" were considered to be a single race for the purposes of section 1981. Justice William J. Brennan, Jr., in a separate concurrence, added that "Pernicious distinctions among individuals based solely on their ancestry are antithetical to the doctrine of equality upon which this nation is founded."
