Baumgardner v. State ex rel. Department of Human Services

KAUGER, Justice.

After the promulgation of our initial opinion herein, Wards Cove Packing Co. v. Atonio, 490 U.S. -, 109 S.Ct. 2115, 104 L.Ed.2d 733 (1989), was decided by the United States Supreme Court. Because of the Wards Cove decision as well as the *237pending legislation,1 we have revisited the issue and conclude that this is a less than auspicious time to address disparate impact theory in the context of Oklahoma law. Instead, we withdraw our earlier opinion herein and remand the proceedings to the Ethics and Merit Protection Commission based on: 1) the hearing examiner’s failure to make…