New Economy, Old Biases

By Nancy Leong. Full text here.

Alan David Freeman’s seminal article, Legitimizing Racial Discrimination Through Antidiscrimination Law: A Critical Review of Supreme Court Doctrine, provided a pathbreaking account of Supreme Court jurisprudence. Professor Freeman observed that the law guaranteed racial equality while simultaneously rationalizing the ongoing existence of grievous inequality. This Symposium Article demonstrates that Professor Freeman’s observations remain accurate today, and that, moreover, they extend to the way courts typically adjudicate claims of inequality in the private sector. The sharing economy provides a particularly timely example. The Symposium Article thus considers how discrimination may take place in the sharing economy, and suggests ways that courts could use existing antidiscrimination statutes to improve the situation.