Court stops launch of HUD rule that makes it harder to prove discrimination

[babylonsister]

Court stops launch of HUD rule that makes it harder to prove discrimination
The rule is part of a larger Trump administration effort to roll back Obama-era antidiscrimination rules.
By KATY O'DONNELL
10/26/2020 05:58 PM EDT


A federal judge has issued a preliminary injunction to stop the Department of Housing and Urban Development from implementing a rule that would have made it harder to bring discrimination claims under the Fair Housing Act.

The rule, set to take effect Monday, would have required plaintiffs to meet a higher threshold to prove unintentional discrimination, known as disparate impact. The new rule — an update to the agency’s 2013 disparate impact rule — would also have given defendants more leeway to rebut the claims.

“These significant alterations, which run the risk of effectively neutering disparate impact liability under the Fair Housing Act, appear inadequately justified,” wrote Judge Mark Mastroianni of the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts in an opinion filed Sunday.

The rule is part of a larger Trump administration effort to roll back Obama-era antidiscrimination rules. Trump this summer scrapped another Obama rule, the Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing Act, requiring localities to track patterns of segregation or else lose federal funding.

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https://www.politico.com/news/2020/10/26/court-stops-hud-rule-discrimination-432592