Intent Standard

The intent standard is the idea that, for a facially neutral statute which has disparate impacts, tending towards discrimination, to be illegal, the allegedly neutral statute must have been drafted with discriminatory intent.^[1] Commentators have noted that this is essentially a requirement of the criminal mens rea of intent, a very high standard to meet in a civil case. Some statutes, by virtue of the severity of their disparate impact, are per se discriminatory.^[2]

References[edit]

1. ↑ For racial cases, see Washington v. Davis, cf. Feeney in gender cases.
2. ↑ See e.g. Yick Wo.