Over the course of the last few days, several articles have been published that are of interest to REP blog readers, as well as a recent Court decision, so I share them here:

• Yesterday, The New York Times published an article, Supreme Court to Weigh Sociology Issue in Wal-Mart Discrimination Case.  As explained in the article, the Supreme Court is tasked with deciding whether or not a generalized scientific showing of how unregulated discretion can lead to discriminatory results due to implicit bias is sufficient to show that plaintiffs are similarly situated (for purposes of class certification) as opposed to a particularized and empirical scientific inquiry into the gender bias of the hundreds of Wal-Mart employees who made decisions about who would be promoted and who would not over the years.  The essay referenced in the article, A Matter of Context: Social Framework Evidence in Employment Discrimination Class Actions is available here.  The Amicus brief filed by the American Sociological Foundation and the Law and Society Association is available here.  This is an important case for advocates attempting to integrate the science explaining implicit bias into their advocacy to show intent in discrimination cases.
• Last week, Judge Mendez of the Eastern District of California found constitutional (under the federal and state constitutions, including Proposition 209 and Title VI) the California Department of Transportation’s Disadvantaged Business Enterprise program, which required for a small portion of the Department’s contracts explicit consideration of and awards of contracts based on the race and gender of the business owner.  For more information on the case, click here.  Related to the first article mentioned, this is another case where expert testimony (which was not rebutted) regarding implicit bias was introduced in order to demonstrate the race-conscious selection criteria in the Department’s program was narrowly tailored and could withstand strict scrutiny.
• Today The Los Angeles Times published an article, Poverty Often a Temporary State, U.S. Census Study Finds.  Although the central findings are known to many anti-poverty advocates, the article provides another layer of information for us to understand the cycle of poverty in today’s impoverished communities.
• Although this is not a recent article, I became aware recently of USAToday’s interactive website dedicated to analyzing Census 2010 data.  Of particular interest to REP readers, USAToday created a Diversity Index, “a 0 to 100 score that represents the probability that two people chosen randomly from an area will have different racial or ethnic backgrounds.”  In other words, the higher an index score, the more diverse the geographic region.  Check out your community’s index score!