Comcast, Charter Denied Rehearing on 9th Circuit Discrimination Rulings
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals shot down Comcast and Charter Communications asks for rehearings en banc of November decisions allowing claims of discrimination in their programming choices to proceed (see 1812060052). In a docket 16-56479 order Monday, Judges…
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Milan Smith and Jacqueline Nguyen voted to deny Comcast's petition, with Judge Mary Schroeder recommending. No judge of the full court requested a vote on the petition for rehearing. In a docket 17-55723 order and opinion Monday, the same panel said the same about Charter's petition. The panel said it's withdrawing its prior opinion and entering a superseding opinion still affirming a lower court's decision to deny Charter's motion to dismiss. According to the superseding opinion, written by Smith, a plaintiff doesn't have to plead that racial discrimination was the but-for cause of a defendant's conduct, only that racial discrimination was a factor. The court said Section 1981 federal rights law is narrowly tailored to serve government interest in preventing racial discrimination and that Charter's First Amendment rights don't bar the claim.