United Steelworkers v. Weber
United Steelworkers v. Weber | |
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Argued March 28, 1979 Decided June 27, 1979 | |
Full case name | United Steelworkers of America, AFL-CIO-CLC v. Weber et al. |
Citations | 443 U.S. 193 (more) 93 S. Ct. 705; 35 L. Ed. 2d 147 |
Case history | |
Prior | Weber v. Kaiser Aluminum & Chem. Corp., 415 F. Supp. 761 (E.D. La. 1976); affirmed, 563 F.2d 216 (5th Cir. 1977); rehearing en banc denied, 571 F.2d 337 (5th Cir. 1978); cert. granted, 439 U.S. 1045 (1978). |
Subsequent | Rehearing denied, 444 U.S. 889 (1979); vacated and remanded, 611 F.2d 132 (5th Cir. 1980). |
Holding | |
United Steel workers of America did not violate the Civil Rights Act of 1964,[1] as their affirmative action plan attempted to help minority workers and did not prevent other employees from advancing. | |
Court membership | |
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Case opinions | |
Majority | Brennan, joined by Stewart, White, Marshall, Blackmun |
Concurrence | Blackmun |
Dissent | Burger |
Dissent | Rehnquist, joined by Burger |
Powell and Stevens took no part in the consideration or decision of the case. | |
Laws applied | |
Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 |
United Steelworkers of America v. Weber, 443 U.S. 193 (1979), was a case regarding affirmative action in which the United States Supreme Court held that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964[1] did not bar employers from favoring women and minorities.[2] The Court's decision reversed lower courts' rulings in favor of Brian Weber whose lawsuit beginning in 1974 challenged his employer's hiring practices.
Facts[]
Brian Weber was 32 years old, and worked as a laboratory assistant at a chemical plant. His company, Kaiser Aluminum and Chemical Corp, had a policy of allowing whites and blacks into a training program on a one-to-one basis, even though there were many more whites than blacks. This came from a collective agreement with United Steelworkers of America. Weber did not get in. More training would have led to a pay raise. Weber claimed this violated Title VII. The company and the union argued it was pursuing affirmative action to remedy historical disadvantages among blacks.
Judgment[]
Lower courts[]
Lower and federal courts supported Weber's claim that Title VII[1] banned all forms of racial discrimination in employment whether against blacks or whites.
Supreme Court[]
By five to two the Supreme Court held that the affirmative action plan was lawful. The majority (Brennan, Stewart, White, Marshall and Blackmun JJ) held that Title VII did not prohibit all kinds of affirmative action programs. They held that the plan of affirmative action must be transitional in nature and serve in fact to correct situations of imbalance by restoring equality at the starting point and should not set out to reproduce them artificially even when the effects of past discrimination have been wiped out. An affirmative action plan has to be (1) necessary (2) aiming to correct a statistical imbalance (3) not result in an absolute bar to hiring non-minorities (4) temporary, with an end date or goal (5) allow flexibility for hiring non-minorities.
Chief Justice Burger, dissenting, said he might vote for it if he were a member of Congress but he was not, and Title VII explicitly prohibited that form of discrimination. Not having affirmative action was agreed to be the position when the Act was passed. He finished by quoting Benjamin Cardozo, (1921) 141, warning to beware of the 'good result' and judges exceeding their authority to get it.
Justice Rehnquist dissented. He quoted George Orwell, Nineteen Eighty-four (1949) 181, where in a sudden jump, mid sentence, the government declares war on Eastasia instead, without blinking, and said this was like the approach to interpretation of the majority:
Thus, by a tour de force reminiscent not of jurists such as Hale, Holmes, and Hughes, but of escape artists such as Houdini, the Court eludes clear statutory language, “uncontradicted” legislative history, and uniform precedent in concluding that employers are, after all, permitted to consider race in making employment decisions.
He cited two senators explaining precisely that the bill would not require a deliberate attempt to maintain a racial balance, because that would be recruiting on the basis of race, which would be unlawful.[citation needed]
See also[]
- List of United States Supreme Court cases, volume 443
- Griggs v. Duke Power Co. (1971)
- Piscataway v. Taxman (3d Cir. 1996)
- Ricci v. DeStefano (2009)
References[]
- ^ Jump up to: a b c Civil Rights Act of 1964 Archived 2009-11-14 at WebCite
- ^ United Steelworkers v. Weber, 443 U.S. 193 (1979).
External links[]
- Text of United Steelworkers v. Weber, 443 U.S. 193 (1979) is available from: CourtListener Findlaw Google Scholar Justia Library of Congress Oyez (oral argument audio)
- Herndon, Randolph K. "The Presence of State Action in United Steelworkers v. Weber." Duke Law Journal. Vol. 1980, No. 6. (Dec., 1980), pp. 1172–1200. Accessed Jan. 29, 2007.
- "What the Weber Ruling Does". Time. July 9, 1979.
- "United Steelworkers v. Weber." West's Encyclopedia of American Law. The Gale Group, Inc. 1998.
- United States Supreme Court cases
- United States Supreme Court cases of the Burger Court
- United Steelworkers litigation
- United States affirmative action case law
- 1979 in United States case law
- Kaiser Aluminum
- United States labor case law