ABSTRACT
This chapter is concerned with unjustifiable private discrimination and the duty and the efforts of government to protect against it and eliminate its consequences. It focuses on the extent to which the Constitution protects against unjustifiable discrimination by government only as that bears on the power of government to protect against private discrimination. The chapter presents the discrimination on the basis of race, sex, age, and disability. Segregation in private facilities has also been held unconstitutional, even though not state imposed or assisted, where the state leases the facilities to a private segregationist. The cases invalidating on constitutional grounds governmental discrimination on the basis of sex would also require invalidation of government-required or government-assisted private discrimination, including affirmative action programs. The Supreme Court has not yet had occasion to consider whether the Constitution offers any protection against discrimination on the basis of disability.
