Washington, DC – Constitutional Accountability Center filed a “friend of the court” brief in the cases heard this morning at the U.S. Supreme Court – Bank of America v. Miami and Wells Fargo v. Miami. CAC attorneys attended the oral argument and issued the following reaction: 

 “The Roberts Court is known for a line of decisions that close the courthouse doors to litigants who try to enforce federal law. Today, however, when enforcement of the Fair Housing Act was at issue, it was notable how little the conservative justices had to say,” said CAC Chief Counsel Brianne Gorod.

CAC Civil Rights Director David Gans continued, “It was indeed striking how little in the way of pushback the Court’s conservatives presented after Justice Kagan and others showed the long history of Congress providing specific authorization for lawsuits that enforce federal statutes.”

“The Justices recognized the special role that the Fair Housing Act plays in fighting housing discrimination,” said CAC Appellate Counsel Brian Frazelle, “and seemed to appreciate as well how broad the ability to sue should be to help enforce it, a position Congress expressly adopted when it last reauthorized the FHA.”

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Resources:

CAC “friend of the court” brief in Bank of America v. Miami and Wells Fargo v. Miami: http://theusconstitution.org/cases/bank-america-corp-v-city-miami-and-wells-fargo-co-v-city-miami-us-sup-ct

“A New Threat to the Struggle for Housing Equality: Bank of America v. Miami and Wells Fargo v. Miami,” Brian Frazelle, AFJ Blog, November 8, 2016: http://www.afj.org/blog/a-new-threat-to-the-struggle-for-housing-equality-bank-of-america-v-miami-and-wells-fargo-v-miami

“How Scalia Made It Difficult to Bring Cases to Court,” David Gans, The Atlantic, August 1, 2016: http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/08/scalia-access-to-courts/493592/

“Keystone of the Arch: The Text and History of Article III and the Constitution’s Promise of Access to Courts,” David Gans, CAC Text & History Narrative, August 2016: http://theusconstitution.org/sites/default/files/Keystone_of_the_Arch.pdf

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Constitutional Accountability Center (www.theusconstitution.org) is a think tank, public interest law firm, and action center dedicated to fulfilling the progressive promise of the Constitution’s text and history.

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