SCOTUS Opinion Cites Law Professor Robert Schwemm's Testimony

LEXINGTON, Ky. (June 29, 2015) — Among other landmark rulings, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled last week to uphold the use of “disparate impact” cases, a key tool in fighting housing discrimination. In Justice Anthony Kennedy's majority opinion, he cited the congressional testimony of University of Kentucky College of Law Professor Robert Schwemm.

Schwemm testified in 1987 that there was a strong consensus among the Federal Courts of Appeals that Title VIII of the Civil Rights Act of 1968 (Fair Housing Act) should be construed to prohibit discriminatory effects.

"I’ve been focused on the Fair Housing Act for most of my 40-year career at UK Law and I’ve focused on the issue decided last week by the Court for many years," said Schwemm, who is the Ashland-Spears Distinguished Research Professor of Law and William L. Matthews, Jr. Professor of Law at UK.

Prior to becoming a law professor, Schwemm practiced with Sidley & Austin in Washington, D.C., and then was chief trial counsel for the Leadership Council for Metropolitan Open Communities in Chicago, Illinois.

Schwemm has studied whether the Fair Housing Act includes a disparate impact standard of liability and wrote the principal treatise in the field, Housing Discrimination: Law and Litigation.

His work prompted the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to adopt new regulations endorsing use of the “discriminatory effect” standard under the Fair Housing Act. The same HUD regulations were also mentioned numerous times in last week's Supreme Court opinion.

"As far as the impact of the case, it’s big," Schwemm said.

The National Fair Housing Alliance, The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights and others applauded the Supreme Court's decision.

To view the opinion, visit http://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/14pdf/13-1371_m64o.pdf. 

MEDIA CONTACT: Whitney Harder, 859-323-2396, whitney.harder@uky.edu