Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas argued that sometimes racial disparities are a good thing in a recent Supreme Court decision regarding the 1968 Fair Housing Act. To prove his case, Thomas relied on the NBA as evidence.
“Racial imbalances do not always disfavor minorities,” wrote Thomas in the dissent. “[I]n our own country, for roughly a quarter-century now, over 70 percent of National Basketball Association players have been black. To presume that these and all other measurable disparities are products of racial discrimination is to ignore the complexities of human existence.”
Thomas is concerned that keeping the practice of using disparate impact claims as part of the 1968 Fair Housing Act would lead to “racial balancing” that may be “limited to only some groups.”
