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| The Civil Rights Act of 1866 came about during the Reconstruction Era following the Civil War for the purpose of making sure that formerly enslaved Black human beings and all other Black human beings would finally receive the same business opportunities that whites have always had. |
Section 1981(a) of that Act reads, “... [C]itizens... of every race... without regard to any previous condition of slavery... shall have the same right... to make and enforce contracts... as is enjoyed by white citizens....”
A few days ago on November 13, the U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments in connection with Byron Allen’s $20 billion lawsuit, filed four years ago in Los Angeles, alleging racial discrimination by cable television giant Comcast Corporation against Black-owned channels by refusing to carry seven lifestyle cable stations operated by Entertainment Studios, of which Allen is founder and CEO. But the high court isn’t deciding who would be the ultimate winner on the merits. It is simply deciding whether Allen’s case should proceed to trial in a lower federal court or should be dismissed without trial.
Although I am an experienced trial attorney, I don’t use convoluted legal jargon. Instead, I adhere to the sage advice of Malcolm X who would always say, “Make it plain.” And that’s exactly what I’m gonna do.
As a result of the petition filed by Comcast, the Supreme Court has to decide if the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, located in San Francisco, was correct in 2018 when it agreed with the position of Allen and his National Association of African American Owned Media organization that the Civil Rights Act of 1866 allows cases to go to trial by showing that racial discrimination was simply “a motivating” factor as opposed to racial discrimination being the “but-for” factor (which means the only factor) causing a white-owned company to refuse to do business with a Black-owned company.
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