Township of Mount Holly v. Mt. Holly Gardens Citizens in Action (U.S. Supreme Court)
Mount Holly is a major civil-rights case before the U.S. Supreme Court concerning the extent to which the Fair Housing Act will continue to outlaw discriminatory housing policies. The question before the Court is whether the Act prohibits policies that have a discriminatory effect on a protected class—i.e., a “disparate impact”—in addition to instances in which intentional bias can be proved (“disparate treatment”).
We represent current and former Members of Congress, some of whom voted in favor of the Fair Housing Act, either when it was enacted in 1968 or when it was amended in 1988—including former Senator Edward W. Brooke (R-MA), co-sponsor of the original Act. Our amicus brief demonstrates that the Act, understood in its proper historical context, was intended to allow disparate-impact claims. The brief also explains why constitutional-avoidance principles should play no role in the case.
Brief of Current and Former Members of Congress