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Intragroup Discrimination, Enrique R. Schaerer

Enrique R. Schaerer

Antidiscrimination law has long addressed patterns of discrimination that run across groups: whites against blacks, men against women—intergroup discrimination. But it overlooks less obvious patterns of discrimination that cut within groups: blacks against blacks, women against women—intragroup discrimination. Less conspicuous than its intergroup counterpart, intragroup discrimination nonetheless subverts equal opportunity. For gender, courts have devised a “sex plus” doctrine to address prejudice against subgroups, such as intragroup discrimination among women. But no scholar or court has formally adopted an equivalent “race plus” doctrine to address intragroup race discrimination. This Article proposes race-plus as a natural and logical extension of sex-plus, …