Cases & Developments

Opinion Granting Defendants’ Motion to Dismiss. Plaintiff, a non-profit membership organization formed to “restor[e] meritocracy in academia and fight[] race and sex preferences that subordinate academic merit to so-called diversity considerations,” sued Northwestern law school, Northwestern Law Review, and several law school administrators and faculty under Title VI, Title IX, Title VII, and 42 U.S.C. § 1981, alleging that they discriminated against heterosexual, cisgender, white men. The court dismissed the majority of plaintiff’s claims for lack of standing, finding that plaintiff (1) did not have any members who were eligible to apply as candidates for entry-level positions, (2) failed to identify any faculty member that was affected by discriminatory promotions, retention, discipline, or compensation, and (3) did not have any members applying to the law review and plaintiff’s theory that faculty members would be harmed indirectly through biased student editors was too speculative. Although plaintiff had standing to bring claims pertaining to the lateral faculty hiring process, the court held those claims failed on the merits. While the court agreed that plaintiff’s members could face a “competitive disadvantage,” it rejected plaintiff’s argument that this disadvantage constituted an adverse employment action. All claims were dismissed without prejudice.