United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit · 2019-06-14
42usc2000e-2: author: Flash2 · QA: FIX (Fable, neov2/cases/TRIAGE-Flash.md)
Case and law context
Role: applied; posture: civil; Title VII race discrimination (denial of academic tenure and termination); summary judgment for university reversed by CADC and remanded; result: remanded; claim: (a), (m)
Uncertainty
Element adverse-action: route: tenure denial that also ends the employment; `discharge` (non-renewal) fits equally, the court analyses only the tenure decision
Element employer-reason: basis: a burden of production the court simply notes was met (nobody contested that a reason was proffered); no basis value says "produced". [proved] (Flash) was wrong: no trier of fact found the reason true, and the court holds a jury could reject it
Element employer-reason: route: the reason is the inadequacy of the candidate's own scholarship, not a comparison with a selected rival; `performance-or-fit` is the alternative
Element motivating-factor: other: the court states the question both as "because of his race" (§ 2000e-2(a)) and, "specifically", as motivating factor (§ 2000e-2(m)); it decides only the latter formulation, so the block is recorded on motivating-factor rather than because-of (Flash had it on because-of, plus a duplicate pretext block)
Misfit
The opinion's main doctrinal contribution - no special "academic deference" to universities in Title VII tenure cases - is a rule about how the causation evidence is weighed, not an element; it rides as a `rule` on the motivating-factor block.
B · Case × element grid
Top-level elements follow claim order in panels of up to six elements. Case rows repeat across panels. Every recorded block retains its holding and basis; multiple blocks are not merged into a case-level verdict. ✓ satisfied · ✗ not satisfied · ○ not reached · · not addressed. Muted blocks are not counted. Sub-element evidence remains on case and element pages.
Elements 1–6 of 33
| Case | Covered entity: employer, employment agency, or labor organization | Protected trait: race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy/abortion), or national origin | Adverse employment action affecting compensation, terms, conditions, privileges, or status | Discriminatory causation ("because of" protected trait) | adverse-action-a2 statutory route or exception | employment-agency-route statutory route or exception |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mawakana v. Bd. of Trs. of the Univ. of the Dist. of Columbia — 926 F.3d 859 (2019) · United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit · 2019 (42usc2000e-2: author: Flash2 · QA: FIX (Fable, neov2/cases/TRIAGE-Flash.md)) | · not addressed | · not addressed | · not addressed |
Elements 7–12 of 33
| Case | labor-organization-route statutory route or exception | training-program statutory route or exception | Impermissible motivating factor in mixed-motive cases (§ 2000e-2(m)) | Bona fide occupational qualification (§ 2000e-2(e)(1)) | Severe or pervasive hostile or abusive working environment | Particular employment practice causing a disparate impact on a protected group |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mawakana v. Bd. of Trs. of the Univ. of the Dist. of Columbia — 926 F.3d 859 (2019) · United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit · 2019 (42usc2000e-2: author: Flash2 · QA: FIX (Fable, neov2/cases/TRIAGE-Flash.md)) | · not addressed | · not addressed | · not addressed | · not addressed | · not addressed |
Elements 13–18 of 33
| Case | Bona fide seniority/merit system or professionally developed ability test (§ 2000e-2(h)) | Failure to reasonably accommodate religious observance or practice (§§ 2000e-2(a)(1), 2000e(j)) | Retaliation for protected Title VII activity (42 U.S.C. § 2000e-3(a)) | communist-organization statutory route or exception | Employer's legitimate, nondiscriminatory reason (McDonnell Douglas step 2) | indian-preference statutory route or exception |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mawakana v. Bd. of Trs. of the Univ. of the Dist. of Columbia — 926 F.3d 859 (2019) · United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit · 2019 (42usc2000e-2: author: Flash2 · QA: FIX (Fable, neov2/cases/TRIAGE-Flash.md)) | · not addressed | · not addressed | · not addressed | · not addressed | · not addressed |
Elements 19–24 of 33
| Case | Subsection (n) limits challenges to covered litigated or consent judgments or orders | judgment-order-scope statutory route or exception | k2-intentional-limit statutory route or exception | k3-controlled-substance statutory route or exception | labor-organization-causation statutory route or exception | national-security statutory route or exception |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mawakana v. Bd. of Trs. of the Univ. of the Dist. of Columbia — 926 F.3d 859 (2019) · United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit · 2019 (42usc2000e-2: author: Flash2 · QA: FIX (Fable, neov2/cases/TRIAGE-Flash.md)) | · not addressed | · not addressed | · not addressed | · not addressed | · not addressed | · not addressed |
Elements 25–30 of 33
| Case | no-preference-imbalance statutory route or exception | Pretext for discrimination (McDonnell Douglas step 3) | Qualified for the position / meeting legitimate employer expectations | religious-institution statutory route or exception | test-score-discrimination statutory route or exception | Rejected "bottom-line" racial or gender balance defense to a discriminatory pass/fail barrier (Connecticut v. Teal) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mawakana v. Bd. of Trs. of the Univ. of the Dist. of Columbia — 926 F.3d 859 (2019) · United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit · 2019 (42usc2000e-2: author: Flash2 · QA: FIX (Fable, neov2/cases/TRIAGE-Flash.md)) | · not addressed | · not addressed | · not addressed | · not addressed | · not addressed | · not addressed |
Elements 31–33 of 33
| Case | Strong-basis-in-evidence defense for race-conscious action taken to avoid disparate-impact liability (Ricci v. DeStefano) | Rejected defense that an adverse CBA arbitration precludes a Title VII action (Alexander v. Gardner-Denver) | Mixed-motive same-decision partial affirmative defense (42 U.S.C. § 2000e-5(g)(2)(B)) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mawakana v. Bd. of Trs. of the Univ. of the Dist. of Columbia — 926 F.3d 859 (2019) · United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit · 2019 (42usc2000e-2: author: Flash2 · QA: FIX (Fable, neov2/cases/TRIAGE-Flash.md)) | · not addressed | · not addressed | · not addressed |
Instances and excluded annotation blocks
| Case | Element | Holding and scope | Pattern | Exact source quotations |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mawakana v. Bd. of Trs. of the Univ. of the Dist. of Columbia — 926 F.3d 859 (2019) · United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit · 2019 — satisfied · conceded (42usc2000e-2: author: Flash2 · QA: FIX (Fable, neov2/cases/TRIAGE-Flash.md)) | Adverse employment action affecting compensation, terms, conditions, privileges, or status | satisfied Counted merits instance applied / merits basis: conceded; claim: (a), (m) | denial-of-tenure-followed-by-termination | On May 1, 2013, Mawakana received notice that he had been denied tenure and that his employment was to terminate effective August 15, 2013.Source: docroot/ir/caselaw/f3d_926.jsonl#/f3d/926/0859-01; Unicode character offsets [2384:2523] (end exclusive); SHA-256 e41e6ee99ed9737bf3b92347c97331ec6c047d8f8abe3135d002e8a6017d03cf. |
| Mawakana v. Bd. of Trs. of the Univ. of the Dist. of Columbia — 926 F.3d 859 (2019) · United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit · 2019 — satisfied · conceded (42usc2000e-2: author: Flash2 · QA: FIX (Fable, neov2/cases/TRIAGE-Flash.md)) | Covered entity: employer, employment agency, or labor organization | satisfied Counted merits instance applied / merits basis: conceded; claim: (a), (m) | public-university | Law professor Kemit Mawakana was denied tenure and terminated by his employer, the University of the District of Columbia.Source: docroot/ir/caselaw/f3d_926.jsonl#/f3d/926/0859-01; Unicode character offsets [40:162] (end exclusive); SHA-256 e41e6ee99ed9737bf3b92347c97331ec6c047d8f8abe3135d002e8a6017d03cf. |
| Mawakana v. Bd. of Trs. of the Univ. of the Dist. of Columbia — 926 F.3d 859 (2019) · United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit · 2019 — satisfied · conceded (42usc2000e-2: author: Flash2 · QA: FIX (Fable, neov2/cases/TRIAGE-Flash.md)) | Employer's legitimate, nondiscriminatory reason (McDonnell Douglas step 2) | satisfied Counted merits instance applied / merits basis: conceded; claim: (a), (m) | deficient-scholarship-for-tenure | In February 2013, the subcommittee issued its assessment of Mawakana's tenure application, concluding that his scholarship was not worthy of tenure and recommending that tenure be denied.Source: docroot/ir/caselaw/f3d_926.jsonl#/f3d/926/0859-01; Unicode character offsets [1752:1939] (end exclusive); SHA-256 e41e6ee99ed9737bf3b92347c97331ec6c047d8f8abe3135d002e8a6017d03cf.It says he was denied tenure because his scholarship was deficient.Source: docroot/ir/caselaw/f3d_926.jsonl#/f3d/926/0859-01; Unicode character offsets [12466:12533] (end exclusive); SHA-256 e41e6ee99ed9737bf3b92347c97331ec6c047d8f8abe3135d002e8a6017d03cf.In this case the University has proffered a legitimate, nondiscriminatory reason for denying Mawakana tenure.Source: docroot/ir/caselaw/f3d_926.jsonl#/f3d/926/0859-01; Unicode character offsets [12356:12465] (end exclusive); SHA-256 e41e6ee99ed9737bf3b92347c97331ec6c047d8f8abe3135d002e8a6017d03cf. |
| Mawakana v. Bd. of Trs. of the Univ. of the Dist. of Columbia — 926 F.3d 859 (2019) · United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit · 2019 — satisfied · triable (42usc2000e-2: author: Flash2 · QA: FIX (Fable, neov2/cases/TRIAGE-Flash.md)) | Impermissible motivating factor in mixed-motive cases (§ 2000e-2(m)) | satisfied Counted merits instance applied / merits basis: triable; claim: (a), (m) The court skips the prima facie and pretext steps (the employer having proffered a reason) and goes to "the ultimate question of discrimination vel non", which it frames under § 2000e-2(m). | dean-influence-differential-scholarship-criteria-and-racial-pattern-in-tenure-outcomes | Consistent with Penn 's suggestion, we believe that Ewing and the concept of academic freedom do not entitle a university to special deference in Title VII tenure cases.Source: docroot/ir/caselaw/f3d_926.jsonl#/f3d/926/0859-01; Unicode character offsets [8901:9070] (end exclusive); SHA-256 e41e6ee99ed9737bf3b92347c97331ec6c047d8f8abe3135d002e8a6017d03cf.Specifically, we ask whether a reasonable jury could find that Mawakana's race was a "motivating factor" in the University's decision to deny him tenure.Source: docroot/ir/caselaw/f3d_926.jsonl#/f3d/926/0859-01; Unicode character offsets [13082:13235] (end exclusive); SHA-256 e41e6ee99ed9737bf3b92347c97331ec6c047d8f8abe3135d002e8a6017d03cf.But the University treated a co-authored work as inferior in assessing the application of a black candidate, Joint Appendix (JA) 1205, even though it did not do so in assessing the application of a white candidate, JA 1235-78.Source: docroot/ir/caselaw/f3d_926.jsonl#/f3d/926/0859-01; Unicode character offsets [14406:14632] (end exclusive); SHA-256 e41e6ee99ed9737bf3b92347c97331ec6c047d8f8abe3135d002e8a6017d03cf.She originally recommended Mawakana for promotion because the article was "of high quality, it reflects originality, creativity, and intellectual inquiry, and it contributes to the growth and understanding of the law," JA 1156, but she later agreed with the faculty committee's concern about Mawakana's scholarship, which resulted in its finding that the same article did not meet tenure standards, JA 397.Source: docroot/ir/caselaw/f3d_926.jsonl#/f3d/926/0859-01; Unicode character offsets [16552:16958] (end exclusive); SHA-256 e41e6ee99ed9737bf3b92347c97331ec6c047d8f8abe3135d002e8a6017d03cf.Indeed, the chairman of the faculty review committee wrote in an email to another faculty member: "After losing 4 colleagues these past months, all faculty of color, ... I am not inclined to be pressured by more of [Broderick's] efforts to clean her house."Source: docroot/ir/caselaw/f3d_926.jsonl#/f3d/926/0859-01; Unicode character offsets [18777:19034] (end exclusive); SHA-256 e41e6ee99ed9737bf3b92347c97331ec6c047d8f8abe3135d002e8a6017d03cf.Fourth , two members of the University faculty who were privy to the internal workings of the tenure review process testified that they believed the University had disfavored black professors within that process.Source: docroot/ir/caselaw/f3d_926.jsonl#/f3d/926/0859-01; Unicode character offsets [19044:19256] (end exclusive); SHA-256 e41e6ee99ed9737bf3b92347c97331ec6c047d8f8abe3135d002e8a6017d03cf.Fifth , of the eight white applicants who applied for tenure between the time Broderick became the Dean in 1999 and the time Mawakana filed suit in 2014, each one received tenure.Source: docroot/ir/caselaw/f3d_926.jsonl#/f3d/926/0859-01; Unicode character offsets [19278:19457] (end exclusive); SHA-256 e41e6ee99ed9737bf3b92347c97331ec6c047d8f8abe3135d002e8a6017d03cf.By contrast, of the seven black professors who applied for tenure within that time period, only five received tenure.Source: docroot/ir/caselaw/f3d_926.jsonl#/f3d/926/0859-01; Unicode character offsets [19467:19584] (end exclusive); SHA-256 e41e6ee99ed9737bf3b92347c97331ec6c047d8f8abe3135d002e8a6017d03cf.These five factors, taken together and viewed in the light most favorable to Mawakana , raise a plausible inference that race was a motivating factor in the University's decision to deny Mawakana tenure.Source: docroot/ir/caselaw/f3d_926.jsonl#/f3d/926/0859-01; Unicode character offsets [20043:20246] (end exclusive); SHA-256 e41e6ee99ed9737bf3b92347c97331ec6c047d8f8abe3135d002e8a6017d03cf. |
| Mawakana v. Bd. of Trs. of the Univ. of the Dist. of Columbia — 926 F.3d 859 (2019) · United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit · 2019 — satisfied · conceded (42usc2000e-2: author: Flash2 · QA: FIX (Fable, neov2/cases/TRIAGE-Flash.md)) | Protected trait: race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy/abortion), or national origin | satisfied Counted merits instance applied / merits basis: conceded; claim: (a), (m) | black-law-professor | In 2006, Mawakana, a black male, was hired by the University of the District of Columbia ("University") to serve as a law professorSource: docroot/ir/caselaw/f3d_926.jsonl#/f3d/926/0859-01; Unicode character offsets [537:668] (end exclusive); SHA-256 e41e6ee99ed9737bf3b92347c97331ec6c047d8f8abe3135d002e8a6017d03cf. |