I’m not completely familiar with the status of contractor and subcontractor minority set-asides in 2006, but I don’t think the issue has gone completely away, despite the Supreme Court’s command in Adarand.

David – I should have been clearer; I was referring to fact patterns such as these, in which a customer fires a vendor for being too white. I said vendor, but isn’t this phenomenon occuring mostly to law firms? I mean, is anyone firing their account or electrical contractor for not being diverse enough?

Personally, if I ever need a lawyer, I’ll be looking at his or her track record, not skin color.

Justinian, do you mean, in this particular fact setting (firing a too-white law firm), or in general? Because in general, there have been many successful “reverse discrimination” in employment cases. They’re successful because the climate of political correctness emboldens employers to do things that are, in retrospect, flatly illegal — yet employers are so proud of themselves for promoting “diversity”, they’ll openly boast about what they’re doing. That makes discovery a little easier, I imagine. Look at Wal-Mart here… they’re BRAGGING about firing “too-white” law firms.

As for the lawyer/law firm/law office setting, I don’t know. (I personally know of prominent government-side legal offices that very aggressively discriminate against whites.) But I suspect that the ease-of-making-the-case conditions I discuss above are even better there: the legal community figures, hey, we’re all lawyers here, so we can do what we want (see the ABA’s ridiculous actions in this regard). Only to find out that, no, you can’t.

Yes and no. On the one hand, there are probably more jobs available. But I don’t think it ever impresses a potential employer to answer the question of why you left your last job with, “Because I initiated a lawsuit against them. Do you mind if I use my sick days for depositions?”

I just disagree that a white or Jewish plaintiff would be any worse off than any other race if he or she brought a suit as compared to a minority.

No. An office- or factory-worker with readily fungible skills and a larger universe of potential employers is better situated in terms of expected costs, benefits, and risks.

Isn’t that a fair statement about anyone who brings a discrimination lawsuit? It’s not like they’re the easiest and most pleasant things in the world… all sorts of allegations about work performance, etc. will be made about the plaintiff.

I’m sure it’s only a matter of time before a white person sues over racial discrimination, and I for one will be very interested in how it plays out.

A qualified white or Jewish attorney plaintiff, however, would almost certainly be worse off for suing in such an instance; the disruption to his career from a lawsuit would outweigh the chances that he could get equal enforcement of the law.