Introduction

• Pages: 1-3
• Author: George Rutherglen

1

Introduction

Over the latter half of the twentieth century, the field of

employment discrimination law grew from a minor specialty into a

flourishing branch of legal practice. It began, modestly enough, with

the passage of fair employment practice statutes in several states

before the decision in Brown v. Board of Education. That decision, in

1954, changed the landscape of civil rights law, and much else

besides. By the end of the decade that followed, nearly half the states

had passed fair employment practice laws, and Congress had passed

the most important civil rights legislation in American history, the

Civil Rights Act of 1964. Title VII of this act contained the first

general prohibition against employment discrimination in federal

law, and from this point forward, Title VII, together with the

constitutional decision in Brown, provided the framework for the

subsequent development of employment discrimination law. This

body of law is almost wholly statutory, but it is deeply influenced by

the active role taken by the judiciary in enforcing the constitutional

principle against discrimination derived from Brown. The Civil

Rights Act of 1964 extended this principle in a variety of different

directions: to public accommodations, to recipients of federal funds,

and in Title VII, to private employment. Subsequent legislation has

extended it still further, to grounds of discrimination not recognized

in constitutional law, such as age and disability, and through a

combination of judicial interpretation and statutory amendment, to

prohibitions not imposed by the Constitution, like those against

neutral practices with discriminatory effects. All of these

innovations, however, bear the marks of their origins in

constitutional law, and some directly raise constitutional questions,

such as the permissibility of certain forms of affirmative action. All

of these innovations also harken back to the original provisions of

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which themselves have been

amended by subsequent legislation, the most important of which is

the Civil Rights Act of 1991.

Decisions interpreting the laws against employment

discrimination have multiplied, as have the books and articles

commenting on these developments. As the law in this field has

become more complex and technical, it also has become less

accessible. In such a large and growing field, any attempt at detailed

analysis across the full range of significant issues would require a

lengthy treatise or casebook, and several have been published. This

book has a different aim: to provide a critical introduction to the field.

Just as this book must be selective in its coverage, it must also be