Casper Eugene Harding v. Vincent Gray

Opinion for the Court filed by Chief Judge MIKVA.

MIKVA, Chief Judge:

In this “reverse discrimination” case, we are called upon to clarify a rule that we formulated twelve years ago in Parker v. Baltimore & Ohio R.R. Co., 652 F.2d 1012 (D.C.Cir.1981). In Parker, we interpreted Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e et seq. (“Title VII”), to require a plaintiff attempting to make a prima facie case of “reverse discrimination” in employment to allege “background circumstances” sufficient to raise an inference of discrimination. This case poses the question whether a plaintiffs…