Amy Coney Barrett and the Question of Race

I'm surprised the issue of race doesn't seem to have entered into the discussions of Judge Barrett's pending confirmation as a Justice of the Supreme Court.

In her short career on the appellate bench, Barrett has voted on one sensitive issue of racial civil rights, the Autozone case. Autozone is a chain of auto parts stores that has several stores in Chicago. It seems to have segregated its employees in its assignments, sending the Black employees to the Black neighborhoods and vice versa for their white colleagues.

The EEOC brought an action against this policy. A three-judge panel of the 7th circuit (a panel to which Judge Barrett did not belong) ruled in favor of Autozone, holding that these assignments are a matter of managerial discretion. The EEOC tried to appeal this to the whole court, that is, en banc. But the appeal was rejected and the ruling stands.

My point? Barrett was one of those who voted in favor of refusing to take the appeal. She gave her support to what sounds like a private sector version of a separate-but-equal policy.

Here is a link to the panel's decision.

http://media.ca7.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/rssExec.pl?Submit=Display&Path=Y2017/D06-20/C:15-3201:J:Sykes:aut:T:fnOp:N:1982895:S:0

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