Nigel S. Phillip, Bernard Schmidt, St. Patrick Reid, and Grant Gittens v. University of Rochester, Raymond Pipitone, and James Clukey

POOLER, Circuit Judge.

We are asked to decide whether the equal benefit clause of 42 U.S.C. § 1981 requires a showing of state action. Based primarily on the clear language of the statute, we hold that plaintiffs may sustain a claim for breach of the equal benefit clause without making a traditional state action showing. We caution, however, that this same statutory language constrains the breadth of the equal benefit clause. That is, plaintiffs must demonstrate that defendants, motivated by racial animosity, deprived or attempted to deprive plaintiffs of “the full and equal benefit” of a law…