Personnel Administrator of Massachusetts v. Feeney

E391917

Personnel Administrator of Massachusetts v. Feeney is a 1979 U.S. Supreme Court case that clarified the standard for proving unconstitutional sex discrimination by requiring a showing of discriminatory intent rather than merely discriminatory impact.

All labels observed (2)

How this entity was disambiguated

Statements (45)

Predicate Object
instanceOf United States Supreme Court case
equal protection case
sex discrimination case
areaOfLaw anti-discrimination law
constitutional law
employment and civil service law
challengedLaw Massachusetts veterans’ preference statute for civil service positions
citation 442 U.S. 256
60 L. Ed. 2d 870
99 S. Ct. 2282
constitutionalProvisionInterpreted Fourteenth Amendment Equal Protection Clause
country United States
court Supreme Court of the United States
decisionDate 1979-06-05
decisionType opinion of the Court
dissentBy Justice John Paul Stevens
linked to: John Paul Stevens
docketNumber 78-233
factualContext Because the vast majority of veterans in Massachusetts were men, the veterans’ preference effectively disadvantaged women applicants for civil service jobs.
holding A law that is facially neutral and administered in a neutral manner does not violate the Equal Protection Clause solely because it has a disproportionate impact on one sex.
To prove unconstitutional sex discrimination, a plaintiff must show that the law was enacted or maintained because of, not merely in spite of, its adverse effects on a protected group.
impactOnJurisprudence strengthened the requirement of proving discriminatory purpose in equal protection challenges to facially neutral laws
joinedByInMajority Chief Justice Warren E. Burger
linked to: Warren E. Burger

Justice Byron R. White
linked to: Byron R. White

Justice Harry A. Blackmun
linked to: Harry A. Blackmun

Justice Lewis F. Powell Jr.
linked to: Lewis F. Powell Jr.

Justice Thurgood Marshall
linked to: Thurgood Marshall

Justice William H. Rehnquist
Justice William J. Brennan Jr.
jurisdiction federal
languageOfProceedings English
legalIssue Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment
discriminatory intent versus discriminatory impact
sex discrimination
majorityOpinionBy Justice Potter Stewart
linked to: Potter Stewart
originatingJurisdiction Commonwealth of Massachusetts
linked to: Massachusetts
petitioner Personnel Administrator of Massachusetts
policyDescription The Massachusetts statute gave an absolute lifetime preference to veterans in civil service hiring and promotion.
precedentialStatus binding precedent on questions of equal protection and discriminatory intent in the United States federal courts
relatedCase Arlington Heights v. Metropolitan Housing Development Corp.
Washington v. Davis
relatedDoctrine disparate impact versus disparate treatment
respondent Helen Feeney NERFINISHED
standardClarified discriminatory intent requirement under the Equal Protection Clause
mere discriminatory impact is insufficient to establish a constitutional violation
testArticulated A law violates equal protection only if the decisionmaker selected or reaffirmed a particular course of action at least in part because of, not merely in spite of, its adverse effects upon an identifiable group.

How these facts were elicited

Referenced by (3)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

Village of Arlington Heights v. Metropolitan Housing Development Corp. relatedCase Personnel Administrator of Massachusetts v. Feeney
Washington v. Davis influenced Personnel Administrator of Massachusetts v. Feeney
Personnel Administrator of Massachusetts v. Feeney challengedLaw Massachusetts veterans’ preference statute for civil service positions
linked to: Personnel Administrator of Massachusetts v. Feeney