Following up on previous TaxProf Blog posts:
- New York Times, Lawsuit: Northwestern Law School Is Biased Against White Men In Faculty Hiring (July 3, 2024)
- Reuters, Lawsuit Against Northwestern Law School Dismissed (Jan. 28, 2026)
Bloomberg Law, Northwestern Law Gets Receptive Panel in Anti-White Hiring Case:
A federal appellate court expressed doubts over a conservative group’s standing to sue Northwestern University’s law school for alleged discrimination against White men in faculty hiring, as they pressed the organization for evidence of bias.
The three panel members hearing oral arguments in the case Thursday seemed to agree with Northwestern that Faculty, Alumni, & Students Opposed to Racial Preferences, or FASORP, hasn’t sufficiently established it cansue on behalf of three unnamed members and compel the university to adopt a race and sex-neutral hiring practices for faculty, law review membership and article selection.
FASORP’s members claim they were ready and willing to apply for faculty posts but can’t compete because they’re White men. But the judges suggests that they never applied for a role and mistreated because of their race or gender to show injury.
The Seventh Circuit’s decision could clarify advocacy groups’ ability to assert associational standing when suing on behalf of anonymous members with shared interests even if they haven’t applied to a job or program. Plaintiffs must demonstrate standing by showing that the allegedly discriminatory policy or conduct would likely inflict a recognizable harm that only judicial relief can redress.
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