Patterson v. McLean Credit Union

Petitioner

Brenda Patterson

Respondent

McLean Credit Union

Petitioner's Claim

That the Civil Rights Act of 1866, which prohibits racial discrimination in the "making and enforcing" of contracts, covers problems arising from conditions of employment, such as harassment and failure to promote.

Chief Lawyers for Petitioner

Julius LeVonne Chambers, Penda D. Hair

Chief Lawyers for Respondent

Roger S. Kaplan, H. Lee Davis, Jr.

Justices for the Court

Harry A. Blackmun, William J. Brennan, Jr., Anthony M. Kennedy (writing for the Court), Thurgood Marshall, Sandra Day O'Connor, William H. Rehnquist, Antonin Scalia, John Paul Stevens, Byron R. White

Justices Dissenting

None

Place

Washington, D.C.

Date of Decision

15 June 1989

Decision

That the Civil Right Act of 1866 does not prohibit racial discrimination in conditions of employment beyond the formation of the employment contract.

Related Cases

• Plessy v. Ferguson, 163 U.S. 537 (1896).
• Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, 347 U.S. 483 (1954).
• Jones v. Alfred H. Mayer Co., 392 U.S. 409 (1968).
• Bob Jones University v. United States, 461 U.S. 574 (1983).

Sources

Naidoff, Caren E.I. "Understanding the Civil Rights Act of 1991," Management Review, April 1992.