Law Commons^™

Twenty Years Of Compromise: How The Caps On Damages In The Civil Rights Act Of 1991 Codified Sex Discrimination, Lynn Ridgeway Zehrt

Law Faculty Scholarship

This article takes a novel approach and reexamines the legislative history surrounding the enactment of the Civil Rights Act of 1991 with a central focus on exploring the issue of capped damages. Part I begins by briefly contrasting and summarizing the diverging remedies available under 42 U.S.C. § 1981 and Title VII. The article then shifts in Part II to an examination of the political climate and legislative history that forged the enactment of the 1991 Act, paying particular attention to the debate surrounding damages. This history reveals that many members of Congress had a discriminatory motive in capping damages …