With
Justice Kennedy’s retirement comes the possible overturning of decisions that
will affect society broadly, one of them being Tex. Dep't of Hous. &
Cmty. Affairs v. Inclusive Cmtys. Project, Inc., 135 S. Ct. 2507 (2015). Kennedy was the swing vote that decided on
“disparate impact”, which prohibits discrimination in housing when the
discrimination is not intended. In Inclusive Community Projects housing
waivers where being concentrated in minority and lower income neighborhoods
which denied the recipients the benefits of being part of a more opportunists
neighborhood. Furthermore,
under Secretary Carson HUD has said that they will reexamine their desperate
impact rule. There is no need to do this as the SCOTUS has already adjudicated
that this rule is constitutional. There are fears that if HUD stops or softens the
enforcement of this rule legal battles will ensue. If these legal battles make
their way to the SCOTUS, then it is possible that Inclusive Community
Projects will be overturned without Kennedy’s swing vote.
This past Thursday, Businessweek covered a massive settlement in a federal lawsuit alleging racial discrimination in SunTrust’s lending practices. The suit, filed by the US DOJ, was filed in the U.S. District Court in Richmond, VA, alleging more than 20,000 African-American and Hispanic borrowers were charged more than similarly-situated and qualified non-Hispanic white borrowers, between 2005 and 2009. The suit alleged that minority borrowers in 75 geographic markets from Virginia Beach, VA to San Francisco, CA, paid more in loan fees, or were charged higher interest rates based solely on race or national origin. A consent order filed with the complaint says SunTrust denies any wrongdoing, but agreed to the settlement. "SunTrust strongly believes in the principles of fair lending," company spokesman Mike McCoy in Atlanta said. "We are pleased to have reached a settlement and put this matter behind us." Settlements like this come as a surprise, considering the...
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