Hunt, Governor of North Carolina v. Cromartie

Background

The dispute involved the Alabama Department of Public Safety, which adopted an English-only policy for driver’s license exams after the State declared English its official language. A class of non-English speakers, represented by Martha Sandoval, sued under a Department of Justice regulation that forbids funding recipients from using rules or methods that have the effect of discriminating based on national origin. Lower federal courts agreed with Sandoval and ordered accommodations for non-English speakers.

Reasoning

The Court framed three agreed points: individuals can sue to enforce Section 601 of Title VI; Section 601 forbids only intentional discrimination; and, for this case, the Court assumed agencies validly could adopt regulations forbidding disparate impacts. The Court nonetheless held that private people do not have a separate right to sue to enforce disparate-impact regulations issued under Section 602. The majority explained that Section 602 authorizes agencies to “effectuate” Section 601 but does not itself contain the rights-creating language that would imply private lawsuits. The statute also sets out administrative enforcement procedures, which the Court saw as evidence that Congress intended agencies, not private plaintiffs, to police those rules.

Real world impact

As a practical matter, the decision prevents individuals from suing solely to enforce disparate-impact agency rules under Title VI. Challenges that depend on proving intentional discrimination under Section 601 remain possible. The Court did not decide whether the regulation itself is valid or whether other legal avenues (for example, lawsuits under other statutes) remain available.

Dissents or concurrances

Justice Stevens’ dissent, joined by three Justices, argued the Court’s precedents and congressional actions support private suits to enforce the regulations and warned this ruling upends settled expectations.