Supreme Court Rules on Race, Copyright and Deportation
March 23 2020 - 07:52PM
Dow Jones News
By Jess Bravin and Brent Kendall
WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court on Monday raised hurdles for a
black television producer alleging discrimination against Comcast
Corp.
A federal-district court had dismissed the suit filed by Byron
Allen, the African-American owner of Entertainment Studios Network.
He alleged race discrimination was behind the cable television
giant's refusal to carry channels produced by his company.
The lower court had found that Mr. Allen, who first gained fame
as a host of the 1980s NBC reality show "Real People," hadn't
alleged sufficient facts to demonstrate Comcast acted based on his
race. The Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco
reinstated the suit, ruling that Mr. Allen need only show that race
played "some role" in Comcast's decision.
The Supreme Court unanimously said the Ninth Circuit got it
wrong and sent it back to the appeals court. The opinion, by
Justice Neil Gorsuch, told the Ninth Circuit to review whether Mr.
Allen's pleading showed he would have gotten the Comcast deal but
for his race -- and, if not, to dismiss the suit.
"We are pleased the Supreme Court unanimously restored certainty
on the standard to bring and prove civil rights claims," Comcast
said in a statement.
"We are proud of our record on diversity and will not rest on
this record. We will continue to look for ways to add even more
innovative and diverse programming that appeals to our diverse
viewership and continue our diversity and inclusion efforts across
the company."
"Unfortunately, the Supreme Court has rendered a ruling that is
harmful to the civil rights of millions of Americans," Mr. Allen
said. "We will continue our fight by going to Congress and the
presidential candidates to revise the statute to overcome this
decision by the United States Supreme Court, which significantly
diminishes our civil rights."
In a separate case emerging from the salvage of Blackbeard's
flagship, Queen Anne's Revenge, the court -- again unanimously --
found that states are immune from copyright infringement suits.
The Revenge sank off Beaufort, N.C., in 1718 and lay there for
nearly three centuries until a 1990s salvage operation brought her
to the surface. To finance the project, the state of North
Carolina, which owned the wreckage, allowed a private salvage
company to sell documentary rights to a filmmaker, Frederick
Allen.
After the North Carolina cultural affairs department posted
video Mr. Allen had shot, the filmmaker sued the state for
copyright infringement. The Fourth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in
Richmond, Va., dismissed the suit, finding the state had sovereign
immunity from such claims. The Supreme Court, in an opinion by
Justice Elena Kagan, agreed.
In a third case, a 7-2 court rejected the Trump administration's
arguments that federal appeals courts had no authority to review
the facts underlying deportation decisions for certain classes of
immigrants.
The Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans found
that federal immigration law gave appellate courts no power to
examine facts in a class of deportation cases involving immigrants
who have committed certain aggravated felonies or drug offenses.
The finding would effectively leave some deportation orders by the
Board of Immigration Appeals, an arm of the Justice Department,
beyond federal court review.
Justice Stephen Breyer, writing for the court, said the Fifth
Circuit read the statute too narrowly and that on appeal the
immigrants were entitled to judicial review of the board's
application of undisputed facts to the relevant law.
Justice Clarence Thomas, joined by Justice Samuel Alito,
dissented.
In other times, Monday's opinions would be an ordinary
assortment for early spring, when the court typically begins to
announce smaller rulings ahead of those in big cases that generally
come in June.
But with the novel coronavirus pandemic forcing the justices to
join other Americans in social distancing, the mechanics of
Monday's release weren't exactly routine. Rather than the justices
summarizing their opinions from the bench, the decisions were
posted electronically on the court's website at five-minute
intervals. They comprised the only scheduled public action on a day
that was supposed to begin a two-week argument sitting.
The justices plan to continue to issue orders and opinions, but
for now they have closed the court building to the public and will
not be hearing oral arguments in pending cases. Monday's decisions
marked the first time the court has issued opinions without taking
the bench since its ruling in Bush v. Gore. The case -- heard and
decided over the justices' winter break -- effectively decided the
2000 election.
Write to Jess Bravin at jess.bravin@wsj.com and Brent Kendall at
brent.kendall@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
March 23, 2020 19:37 ET (23:37 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2020 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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