Prof. Myron Orfield Quoted in Daily Mail About Legality of Restricted Community

Professor Myron Orfield, Earl R. Larson Professor of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties and Director, Institute of Metropolitan Opportunity, was quoted in the Daily Mail about the legality of an Arkansas housing settlement that bars people of color, Muslims, Jews, and anyone else organizers deem to be LGBTQ-leaning or a militant atheist. One legal scholar has called the group’s insistence on segregation “disgusting” and said that in any other administration, the U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division would investigate and take swift action against it, but under Donald Trump, such a move by the DOJ is unlikely. The settlement’s organizer says his group can legally exclude certain kinds of members because it's selling membership not land. Prof. Orfield said that while the group's members-only approach is novel — “an interesting wrinkle” that could be likened to private country clubs legally excluding certain kinds of members  — state and federal laws protect people’s land and housing rights far more than their right to play golf. He said that if residents of the community tap public utilities, drive on public roads to get home, benefit from publicly funded programs, use the U.S. Postal Service, or send even one child to a public school, the organizing group is squarely subject to anti-discrimination laws. He said, “Will this place stand up in court — even with today’s Supreme Court? My guess is absolutely not.”