Court Rejects Challenge to O.C. Hiring

A man who said he was denied a job with Orange County because he is a black male lost a Supreme Court appeal today.

The justices, without comment, let stand rulings that threw out Kenneth Robinson’s racial bias lawsuit against the county, its Superior Court and several county officials.

In their appeal of lower court dismissals of his lawsuit, lawyers for Robinson argued among other things that the Orange County Superior Court wrongly was allowed to use its employment of black women as a defense against charges that it had discriminated against black men.

Robinson applied for four different jobs with Orange County and the county’s Superior Court in 1983. Each application was denied.

He then sued, charging he was victimized by both intentional discrimination and employment practices that had an unjustified adverse impact on blacks.

As part of his suit, Robinson cited statistics showing that as of early 1984 the Orange County Superior Court employed no black men.

A federal trial judge dismissed the suit, and the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld that ruling by a 2-1 vote last May 27.

The appeals court said that Robinson’s showing an absence of black male employees did not raise a genuine issue of “disparate impact” because the county Superior Court employed a number of black women.

The appeals court noted that the percentage of black female employees was slightly above the percentage of blacks living in Orange County.

“The absence of any black male employees could result from racial stereotyping or have some other link to racial discrimination. Robinson, however, has presented insufficient evidence to suggest this is the case here,” the 9th Circuit court said.

AFFIRMATIVE ACTION

The court expanded the ability of white men to challenge plans giving preferential treatment to minorities and women in government jobs. Page 2