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feminist judgments: rewritten employment
discrimination opinions
How would feminist perspectives and analytical methods change the interpreta-
tion of employment discrimination law? Would the conscious use of feminist
perspectives make a difference? This volume shows the difference feminist analy-
sis can make to the interpretation of employment discrimination statutes. This
book brings together a group of scholars and lawyers to rewrite fifteen employment
discrimination decisions in which a feminist analysis would have changed the
outcome or the courts’ reasoning. It demonstrates that use of feminist perspectives
and methodologies, if adopted by the courts, would have made a significant
difference in employment discrimination law, leading to a fairer and more egali-
tarian workplace, and a more prosperous society.
Kathryn M. Stanchi
University of Nevada, Las Vegas, William S. Boyd School of Law
Linda L. Berger
University of Nevada, Las Vegas, William S. Boyd School of Law
Edited by
ANN C. MCGINLEY
University of Nevada, Las Vegas, William S. Boyd School of Law
www.cambridge.org
Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9781108493178
D O I : 10.1017/9781108694643
1 Introduction 1
Ann C. McGinley and Nicole Buonocore Porter
2 Supreme Court and Gender Narratives 30
Desert Palace, Inc. v. Costa, 539 U.S. 90 (2003) 43
Commentary: Naomi M. Mann
Judgment: Anne E. Mullins
3 Pregnancy Discrimination 58
International Union, UAW v. Johnson Controls,
Inc., 499 U.S. 187 (1991) 68
Commentary: Wynter P. Allen
Judgment: Marcia L. McCormick
ix
Webb v. City of Philadelphia, 562 F.3d 256 (3d Cir. 2009) 180
Commentary: Sahar F. Aziz
Judgment: Valorie K. Vojdik
5 Harassment Because of Sex 215
Meritor Savings Bank, FSB v. Vinson, 477 U.S. 57
(1986) (opinion reproduced from Feminist Judgments) 227
Commentary: Trina Jones
Judgment: Angela Onwuachi-Willig
Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. v. Dukes et al., 564 U.S. 338 (2011) 430
Commentary: Charles A. Sullivan
Judgment: Tristin K. Green
8 Retaliation 462
Clark County School District v. Breeden, 532 U.S.
268 (2001) 462
Commentary: Rebecca Hanner White
Judgment: Michael Z. Green
Index 486
xii
Charles Sullivan, Professor of Law and Senior Associate Dean for Finance
and Faculty, Seton Hall University School of Law
Michael Waterstone, Fritz B. Burns Dean and Professor of Law,
Loyola Law School and Senior Vice President, Loyola Marymount
University
xiv
director of the Center for Security, Race and Rights, and serves on the US
Institute for Peace RESOLVE Network Research Advisory Council.
Jasbir (Jesse) Kaur Bawa is an assistant professor of lawyering skills at Howard
University School of Law. She specializes in teaching legal writing and
appellate advocacy through a civil rights lens, including employment discri-
mination issues. She has also taught a course in racial profiling across com-
munities of color. She received her B.A. from McMaster University in
Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. She received her J.D. from Howard University
School of Law.
Roxana S. Bell is a professor of law at the University of Detroit Mercy School
of Law, where she teaches civil procedure and legal communication. Prior to
becoming a law professor, Bell practiced labor and employment law at a large
law firm in Indianapolis. She focused her practice on management-side
defense and general employment and workplace policies. Bell researches
and writes in the area of antidiscrimination law.
Stephanie Bornstein is an associate professor of law at the University of
Florida Levin College of Law, where she teaches and writes in the areas of
employment and labor law, antidiscrimination law, and civil procedure. She
served previously as a visiting assistant professor at the University of California,
Hastings College of Law, Deputy Director of UC Hastings’ Center for
WorkLife Law, and a staff attorney at national public interest law center
Equal Rights Advocates. Bornstein received her bachelor’s degree magna
cum laude from Harvard University and her law degree from the University
of California, Berkeley, School of Law.
Nancy E. Dowd is a professor and David Levin Chair in Family Law at the
University of Florida Fredric Levin College of Law. She is Emeritus Director
of the Center on Children and Families. She writes in the areas of constitu-
tional law, family law, juvenile justice, feminist and masculinities theory,
critical race theory, civil rights, children’s rights, and social justice. Her most
recent book is Reimagining Equality: A New Deal for Children of Color (2018).
Michael Z. Green is a professor of law and Director of the Workplace Law
Program at Texas A&M University School of Law. Professor Green’s scholar-
ship focuses on workplace disputes, with an emphasis on race and sex, as well
as alternatives to the court resolution process. He teaches employment dis-
crimination law, and he has published dozens of law review articles and
several book chapters on the subject. He is also the coauthor for two pending
employment discrimination books. An elected Fellow of the College of Labor
LL.M. from Harvard Law School; his J.D., cum laude, from Yeshiva
University’s Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law; and his B.S.B.A. with
a major in economics from the University of Florida. He would like to thank
Ann C. McGinley and Nicole Buonocore Porter for their invaluable mentor-
ship throughout this project.
Maria L. Ontiveros is a professor of law and a co-director of the Labor and
Employment Law Program at the University of San Francisco School of Law.
She holds an A.B. from University of California, Berkeley, a J.D. from Harvard
Law School, an M.I.L.R. from Cornell University, and a J.S.D. from Stanford
Law School. Her research focuses on organizing immigrant workers, work-
place harassment of women of color, and modern-day applications of the
Thirteenth Amendment. She is coauthor of the bestselling Employment
Discrimination Casebook and a member of the U.A.W. Public Review Board.
Angela Onwuachi-Willig is Dean and a professor of law at Boston University.
Prior to becoming Dean, she served as Chancellor’s Professor of Law at
University of California, Berkeley. She is author of According to Our Hearts:
Rhinelander v. Rhinelander and the Law of the Multiracial Family (2013). Her
articles have appeared in leading law journals such as the Yale Law Journal,
Virginia Law Review, and California Law Review. She is a past chair of the
AALS Employment Discrimination Section and the AALS Minority Groups
Section. Before joining the academy, she practiced labor and employment law
at Jones Day-Cleveland and Foley Hoag-Boston.
Teresa Godwin Phelps is Emerita Professor of Law at American University’s
Washington College of Law, where she taught and directed the Legal Rhetoric
Program from 2006 to 2019. Prior to 2006, she taught and directed the Legal
Writing Program at Notre Dame Law School. She has written extensively in
legal rhetoric, law and literature, women’s rights, human rights, and narrative
and the law, including her book Shattered Voices: Language, Violence, and the
Work of Truth Commissions (2004).
Nicole Buonocore Porter is a professor of law at the University of Toledo
College of Law, where she teaches employment discrimination, disability law,
feminist legal theory, contracts, and criminal law. She is a nationally known
expert in disability law, and her research interests focus on the employment
rights of women and individuals with disabilities. Porter has published (or has
forthcoming) more than thirty-five law review articles and four books since she
began her academic career in 2004. She has been a visiting professor of law at
the University of Denver Sturm College of Law and University of Iowa
College of Law. Prior to academia, Porter graduated from Michigan Law
School, magna cum laude, clerked for the Honorable James L. Ryan on the US
Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, and practiced employment law for
a large firm and then as in-house counsel for a manufacturing company.
Leticia M. Saucedo is a professor of law at University of California Davis
School of Law. She is an expert in employment, labor, and immigration law,
and she teaches immigration law, employment law, labor law, and torts at
Davis. Professor Saucedo’s research focuses on the impact of employment and
labor laws on conditions in low-wage workplaces. Her law review articles have
appeared in Washington University Law Review, Notre Dame Law Review,
North Carolina Law Review, the Ohio State Law Journal, Buffalo Law Review,
and Richmond Law Review, among others.
Charles A. Sullivan has been a professor of law at Seton Hall Law School
since 1978, where he has held the Catania Chair and served as Associate Dean,
Director of the Rodino Law Library, and Associate Dean for Finance and
Faculty. A renowned scholar in employment discrimination law and elected
member of the American Law Institute, Dean Sullivan has published many
books and law review articles, including Employment Discrimination: Law
and Practice (2019), Cases and Materials on Employment Discrimination
(2020), Employment Law: Private Ordering and Its Limitation (2019), and
Cases and Materials on Employment Law (2001).
JoAnne Sweeny is a professor of law at the University of Louisville, Louis
D. Brandeis School of Law. She obtained her Ph.D. at Queen Mary,
University of London and her J.D. at the University of Southern California.
Before returning to academia, she was an employment litigator in Los Angeles.
Her current scholarship focuses on the intersection of feminist jurisprudence
and freedom of expression. She is also a Fulbright Scholar, which allowed her
to research comparative #MeToo movements in Finland and several other
European countries.
Valorie K. Vojdik is Waller Lansden Distinguished Professor of Law at
the University of Tennessee College of Law, where she teaches civil
rights, gender and the law, civil procedure, and federal courts. Her recent
scholarship focuses on feminist jurisprudence, masculinities theory, inter-
national women’s rights, and gender violence. She is a member of the
Tennessee State Advisory Committee to the US Commission on Civil
Rights. She has litigated numerous cases involving sex discrimination and
civil rights, and was lead counsel to Shannon Faulkner, who successfully
challenged the males-only admission policy of the Citadel in South
Carolina.
procedure, and feminist legal theory. Her scholarship has focused principally
on the death penalty and on gender and the law. Professor Wilkins would like
to thank Professor Catherine Archibald, who wrote the feminist judgment for
Etsitty, and Professors Ann C. McGinley and Nicole Buonocore Porter for
their outstanding and collegial work shepherding this volume to publication.
xxiii
Ann C. McGinley would like to thank Jeff Stempel, her husband and collea-
gue, for his enduring support, both emotional and intellectual, during this
long process and Dean Dan Hamilton for supporting the project by hosting
a workshop at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV), gathering the
book contributors in preparation for the writing of this volume. She would also
like to thank David McClure and the Wiener-Rogers Law Library at UNLV,
Boyd School of Law, for his consistently excellent research support. Finally,
she thanks Nicole for her outstanding hard work, intelligent approach, and
careful, prompt editing.
Nicole Buonocore Porter would like to thank her husband and colleague,
Bryan Lammon, for his never-ending patience and encouragement during this
book project (especially considering her frequent technical questions). She
would also like to thank Ann for asking her to join this project and for her
amazing work ethic.
Both editors would like to thank the original editors of the Feminist
Judgments Project, Kathryn Stanchi, Linda Berger, and Bridget Crawford,
for trusting them with this book and for their support. The volume editors
would also like to thank the wonderful opinion and commentary authors for
their superb work on this project and for tolerating the editors’ several rounds
of edits.
xxv
Introduction
Equal pay, equal work, and equal working conditions for women and all other
subordinated groups are crucial to their ability to live productive lives in our
society. Historically, cultural and legal structures defined roles for women with
reference to men (particularly white, heterosexual, gender-conforming men).
Men were deemed the heads of families with responsibility to earn the family’s
income, and women served as caretakers of the family. These gender-based
roles and sex stereotypes still dominate our culture today; as a result, many
women, those men who fail to live up to male stereotypes, and other gender-
nonconforming individuals suffer discrimination in hiring and terms and
conditions of employment. Moreover, those with intersectional identities,
such as racial minority, LGBTQ+, older, and disabled individuals, have
even greater hurdles to jump.
Federal statutes such as the Equal Pay Act of 1963 and Title VII of the Civil
Rights Act of 1964 were enacted to assure workplace gender equality, but, as we
shall see, changing cultural norms is not simple, and many court decisions that
may appear neutral failed to achieve the ideal of equal working conditions for
all. This failure highlights the importance of interpreting law through
a feminist lens so that all members of the community may achieve workplace
success. Feminist perspectives and those offered by masculinities and critical
race theorists provide important tools with which to consider workplace law
and its approach to equality at work. This book seeks to offer an alternative
view of what the law could have been had judges interpreting the law con-
sciously engaged with these tools.
background
This book is a volume in the Feminist Judgments series. The first book of the
series, Feminist Judgments: Rewritten Opinions of the Supreme Court, was
Goals
We decided early on that we wanted this book to accomplish two major goals.
First, in keeping with the original, this volume would be a compilation of
1
FEMINIST JUDGMENTS: REWRITTEN OPINIONS OF THE UNITED STATES SUPREME COURT (Kathryn
M. Stanchi, Linda L. Berger, & Bridget J. Crawford eds., 2016).
2
Id. at 6–7.
3
Id. at 4.
4
Id. at 5.
explain which subsequent opinions would have been avoided had the law
been decided as in the rewritten opinion.
Given our goals, case selection was key. We wanted to rewrite opinions that
would allow for interesting analyses and would generate the greatest potential
impact not only for women, but also for all workers who suffer the effects of
discrimination in the workplace. Unlike the original book, this volume is not
limited to US Supreme Court cases, but we wanted the cases we included to have
an impact. We therefore selected decisions of the US Supreme Court and federal
courts of appeals that we believed would best fit with our goals. Because we hoped
to create an internally consistent body of law, we limited our authors to rewriting
majority opinions only, but we did not limit our case selection to those decisions
that we sought to reverse. Instead, we selected cases with holdings that we
believed were consistent with feminist perspectives if we thought that the opi-
nions themselves could have more forcefully furthered feminist goals (i.e.,
Oncale; Desert Palace; Johnson Controls; Young; Hively; Meritor Savings Bank).
We also wanted to include a broad variety of cases that demonstrated
different deficiencies: procedural (i.e., Ricci; Wal-Mart) and substantive
(i.e., Young; Hively; AFSME; Meritor; Sears); a failure to adopt a feminist
process, such as a refusal to describe the facts when the courts found them to
be too explicit (i.e., Oncale; Etsitty; Desert Palace); a failure to recognize
a potential conflict in legal rights (i.e., Breeden; Johnson Controls); and
a failure to explain potential intersectional harms (i.e., Meritor; Webb;
Jespersen; Catastrophe Management).
Employment discrimination law as it stands today is extraordinarily compli-
cated, with various theories of recovery (e.g., individual disparate treatment and
disparate impact), proof methodologies for both individual cases and class
actions, burgeoning gender-based theories (e.g., sex stereotyping, harassment,
and the rights of LGBTQ+ individuals), a number of statutes dealing with many
protected classes (i.e., the Equal Pay Act of 1963, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act
of 1964, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967, and the Americans
with Disabilities Act of 1990), a concern with implicit and explicit biases,
a general refusal to engage in intersectional analysis, and three major forms of
violating the various statutes (discrimination, harassment, and retaliation). To
comprehensively rewrite employment discrimination law, we would have had
to rewrite many more than fifteen opinions. Given our numerical constraint, we
chose those opinions that would result in the most representative range of cases
and deal with many of the fundamental questions in the law today.5
5
See the next section for an explanation of why we chose not to rewrite certain key cases or address
other areas of employment discrimination law.
6
The editors of the original Feminist Judgments book were extremely helpful throughout the
entire process described in this section.
7
The members of the Advisory Board and their credentials are listed in the preliminary pages of
this book.
8
This entire selection process took many months to complete.
orientations. Among those who are in the legal academy, we have chaired
professors, and full, associate, assistant, clinical, and legal writing professors,
from a total of twenty-five different law schools. Many of our authors and
commentators have published in the area of feminist theory, masculinities
theory, employment discrimination, and/or employment law – including
books, law review articles, and other scholarly publications. Some are experts
in legal writing – specifically, law and rhetoric. Others are practitioners or
academics who previously practiced law and who have served in various
professional leadership roles. This diversity, we believe, is one of the great
strengths of this volume.
After submitting our volume proposal to the original editors and Cambridge
University Press, we conducted a workshop at University of Nevada, Las Vegas,
Boyd School of Law, in April 2018. At the workshop, which was attended by
nearly two-thirds of the opinion and commentary authors, we discussed
feminist theory and different possible approaches to rewriting the case opi-
nions and writing the accompanying commentaries. We also discussed
employment discrimination law as it currently stands. We then asked opinion
authors to submit their first drafts by August 2018, and we sent them on to the
commentary authors, so that they could begin working on the commentaries.
While each of us took the lead for half of the opinions and commentaries,
we both edited all of the opinions and commentaries, reviewing each at least
four times. Our goal was to allow as much freedom to the authors and
commentators as possible, while keeping the quality of the opinions and
commentaries consistent in theory, doctrine, and writing. Some authors
made decisions that one or both of us did not agree with, but all of the authors’
decisions, we believe, are rational and justifiable.
seminar, students will each rewrite one opinion that has not previously been
rewritten and will write a commentary on another student’s rewritten opinion.
Researchers should find this volume, as a whole, useful in examining how
feminist employment discrimination scholars believe the law in the area could
have developed if the courts had applied feminist methodologies, perspectives,
and theories. Researchers can also consider how the opinion authors and
commentators interpret the original cases, how the opinions could have
originally been written, and the effect that such a rewrite would have on the
individual case and the entire body of employment discrimination law.
Practicing lawyers and judges can use this volume to reconsider how to
frame their arguments and opinions. Moreover, state court judges who are not
bound by federal antidiscrimination laws when interpreting their own state
antidiscrimination laws may find this volume useful in avoiding the errors that
harm the most vulnerable employees among us.
9
539 U.S. 90 (2003).
10
499 U.S. 187 (1991).
employer’s fetal protection policy that broadly excluded fertile women, but not
men, from jobs working with lead was sex discrimination under Title VII and
could not be justified by the Bona Fide Occupational Qualification (BFOQ)
defense. Because of the breadth of the policy, which excluded nearly all
women absent proof of sterilization, this case was a victory not only for
pregnant women, but also for all women working at the company.
Nonetheless, the original opinion failed to focus on the stories of hardships
of individual women who would be excluded from work, ignored evidence
that men’s offspring can also suffer harm from excess exposure to lead, and
failed to suggest that workplaces with toxic substances should clean up and/or
provide personal protective equipment to the extent feasible rather than
exclude employees from valuable jobs. The rewritten opinion by Marcia
McCormick, with a commentary by Wynter Allen, uses feminist emphasis
on narrative to tell the stories of three of the individual plaintiffs: two women
and one man. It details the economic and personal hardships suffered by the
plaintiffs, and it explains that, in 1979, 100,000 women were excluded from
jobs as a result of fetal protection policies, the majority in male-dominated
positions. The rewritten opinion disavows the stereotypes furthered by the
policy that all women are potential mothers for nearly their entire working
lives and concludes that the policy lets employers avoid their duty to eliminate
workplace health hazards. While the rewritten opinion does not change the
holding, it places emphasis on the importance of avoiding gender-based and
sex stereotypes and on furthering healthy workplaces for all employees.
Young v. United Parcel Service, Inc.11 deals more directly with pregnancy. In
the original case, the Court held that a pregnant employee can establish that
an employer’s refusal to make accommodations for her pregnancy violates the
Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978 by demonstrating that the employer
accommodates a large percentage of nonpregnant workers while failing to
accommodate a large percentage of pregnant workers. Although this was seen
as a positive step for pregnant women, the Court’s convoluted analysis gener-
ated a great deal of criticism. The feminist judgment, rewritten by Deborah
Widiss, with a commentary by Bradley Areheart, takes a much more straight-
forward approach. Widiss holds that when an employer provides accommoda-
tions for employees with physical restrictions that are similar to those of the
pregnant plaintiff, the employer must provide those same accommodations to
the pregnant employee. Widiss highlights the history of discrimination against
pregnant women, which has proven to be a significant cause of women’s
subordination in the workplace. This subordination occurs because many
11
135 S.Ct. 1338 (2015).
women have been forced to quit when their employers refused to provide
them with simple accommodations that would allow the employees to remain
employed while pregnant.
The first case in Chapter 4, “Intersectional Approaches to Appearances,” is
Jespersen v. Harrah’s Operating Co.12 In that case, the Ninth Circuit held that the
employer’s firing of a female bartender for failing to comply with a sex-specific
grooming policy, which included a comprehensive makeup requirement for
female employees, did not constitute sex discrimination based on the unequal
burdens on women or unlawful sex stereotyping. The rewritten opinion is coau-
thored by Angela Onwuachi-Willig and JoAnne Sweeny, with a commentary
written by Roxana Bell. The opinion coauthors expose the harm caused by
allowing employers to have sex-specific grooming policies generally and makeup
mandates specifically. They hold that the unequal burdens test should be jet-
tisoned and propose instead that any sex-specific grooming policy would violate
Title VII. They also hold, in the alternative, that even if the unequal burdens test
were to apply, the makeup policy, which has no corollary in time or money spent
for men, poses an unequal burden on the female employees of the casino. Finally,
the authors hold that requiring women to wear makeup (and refusing to allow
men to wear makeup) is sex stereotyping that violates Title VII. Although the
plaintiff was a white woman who was not challenging the casino’s sex-specific hair
requirements, the coauthors sprinkle some intersectional dicta throughout the
rewritten opinion, exposing how the casino’s hair mandates could discriminate
based on both sex and race.
EEOC v. Catastrophe Management Solutions13 deals more directly with
race and hair. In the original case, the court held that it was not race
discrimination for the employer to refuse to hire a black woman because she
wore her hair in locs, stating that Title VII was meant to prohibit only
discrimination based on “immutable characteristics,” and the wearing of
locs is not immutable. The rewritten opinion by Wendy Greene, with
a commentary by Jesse Bawa, holds that the refusal to hire black women
because they wear their hair in locs is race discrimination under Title VII.
The rewritten opinion first explores the lengthy and tragic history of hair
discrimination against black women. The opinion then eliminates the immut-
ability requirement, confirming that discrimination against cultural practices
associated with race constitutes race discrimination. In so holding, the rewrit-
ten opinion also explores the intersectional nature of the discrimination
against black women.
12
444 F.3d 1104 (9th Cir. 2006) (en banc).
13
852 F.3d 1018 (11th Cir. 2016).
The last case in this chapter is Webb v. City of Philadelphia.14 In the original
opinion, the Third Circuit upheld the lower court’s grant of summary judg-
ment to the City. The plaintiff, a Muslim female police officer, alleged illegal
sex and religious discrimination because the City denied her an accommoda-
tion to wear a religious headscarf with her uniform, even though male police
officers who are Muslim had been accommodated and permitted to wear
beards. The court agreed with the City’s argument that the requested accom-
modation would impose an undue burden on the defendant. Valorie Vojdik’s
rewritten opinion, with a commentary by Sahar Aziz, focuses on the intersec-
tional harm based on the plaintiff’s sex, combined with her religion, and
overturns the lower court’s grant of summary judgment, concluding that the
defendant’s argument that permitting the plaintiff to wear a headscarf tucked
into her uniform shirt collar would destroy the esprit de corps of the police
force is specious. According to the rewritten opinion, the defendant offered no
evidence of harm at all, much less evidence of undue burden.
Chapter 5, “Harassment Because of Sex,” contains two cases that are
republished (with permission) from the original Feminist Judgments book,
with new commentaries. In Meritor Savings Bank, FSB v. Vinson,15 the
Supreme Court held for the first time that an employer is liable to an
employee for a sexually hostile work environment created by a supervisor
even absent economic harm to the employee if the behavior is severe or
pervasive. The employer’s liability is not automatic, but depends on agency
principles. In the rewritten opinion, Angela Onwuachi-Willig, with a new
commentary by Trina Jones, focuses on the hidden race issues in the case.
Unlike the original opinion, the rewritten opinion explains that the black
female plaintiff was especially vulnerable because of her youth and the fact
that the harasser, a bank vice president and branch manager, was a well-
respected man in the black community, who repeatedly assaulted her at
work. Importantly, the rewritten opinion establishes a new, less stringent test
for proving a hostile work environment and holds that an employer is strictly
liable for injuries caused by such an environment created by a supervisor.16 By
making employers strictly liable, the rewritten opinion would have effectively
eliminated a number of subsequent lower court cases and two Supreme Court
cases, Burlington Industries, Inc. v Ellerth17 and Faragher v. City of Boca
14
562 F.3d 256 (3d Cir. 2009).
15
477 U.S. 57 (1986).
16
The rewritten opinion left untouched the “negligence” standard that courts apply when the
harasser is a coworker or a third party, where an employer is liable if it knew or should have
known about the harassment and failed to take appropriate remedial action.
17
524 U.S. 742 (1998).
18
524 U.S. 775 (1998).
19
570 U.S. 421 (2013).
20
523 U.S. 75 (1998).
21
This case is an example of the tension we confronted between our two goals, as we described
earlier. Because the rewritten opinion stated that discrimination based on sexual orientation
and gender identity and expression is illegal and fits within the definition of discrimination
because of “sex” in Title VII, we could have accomplished our goal of creating law that would
consistently further feminist values by choosing not to rewrite other opinions dealing with these
issues. We concluded, however, that a deep analysis of the subject was necessary in cases that
directly addressed the issue of protection for sexual orientation and transgender status under
Title VII. Thus we opted to rewrite both Hively and Etsitty rather than to rely on the analysis in
Oncale, where the issue was not raised directly. Of course, had Oncale been decided as the
rewritten opinion was, it is unlikely that Hively and Etsitty would have been litigated.
22
502 F.3d 1215 (10th Cir. 2007).
In Etsitty, the Tenth Circuit held that a bus company did not violate Title VII
when it fired a transgender woman bus driver with (to quote the Court) “male
genitalia” for using public women’s restrooms along her bus route. The court,
like other courts before it, concluded that discrimination based on transgender
status does not violate Title VII’s prohibition of discrimination “because of
sex” and that, even if it did, the plaintiff was fired because of bathroom use, not
discrimination. The rewritten opinion by Catherine Archibald, with
a commentary by Pamela Wilkins, reverses course, finding that the employer’s
behavior violated both Title VII and the Equal Protection Clause of the
Fourteenth Amendment to the US Constitution. The rewritten opinion con-
cludes that discrimination based on transgender status violates Title VII
because it is discrimination based on an individual’s genitalia or presumed
genitalia. In the alternative, the rewritten opinion holds that the plaintiff’s sex
is a motivating factor when an employer discriminates based on transgender
status. Archibald also concludes that discriminating against individuals based
on the bathroom they use has an illegal disparate impact on transgender
persons. Finally, the rewritten opinion also adds dicta concluding that single-
sex bathrooms violate both Title VII and the Equal Protection Clause.
Hively v. Ivy Tech Community College23 addresses discrimination based on
sexual orientation. The original opinion has a positive outcome for feminist
theorists, where the Seventh Circuit held that sexual orientation discrimina-
tion is sex discrimination under Title VII, creating a circuit split that, at the
time of writing, is expected to be resolved in 2020 by the Supreme Court.24 The
rewritten opinion, authored by Ryan Nelson, arrives at the same conclusion as
the original decision, but the rewritten opinion has a very different feel than
the original opinion. First, as commentary author Danielle Weatherby
describes, Nelson pays “homage to the LGBTQ+ experience, offering
a more humanistic lens through which to view the legal question posed by
Hively.” In his rewritten opinion, Nelson relies on several legal theories and
arguments to support the conclusion that discrimination based on sexual
orientation is sex discrimination under Title VII, including but-for causation,
sex stereotyping, sex-plus, associational discrimination (which Nelson calls
23
853 F.3d 339 (7th Cir. 2017) (en banc).
24
In October 2019, the Supreme Court heard oral argument on three cases dealing with whether
discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity is illegal under Title VII. See
Zarda v. Altitude Express, Inc., 883 F.3d 100, 112 (2d Cir. 2018) (en banc) (sexual orientation),
cert. granted 139 S.Ct.1599 (2019); Bostock v. Clayton County Bd. Commissioners, 723 Fed.
Appx. 964 (11th Cir. 2018) (sexual orientation), cert. granted 139 S.Ct. 1599 (2019); EEOC v. R.G.
& G.R. Harris Funeral Homes, 884 F.3d 560 (6th Cir. 2018) (gender identity), cert. granted 139 S.
Ct. 1599 (2019). At the time of our final edit, these cases have not yet been decided by the
Supreme Court.
25
770 F.2d 1401 (9th Cir. 1985).
26
839 F.2d 302 (7th Cir. 1988).
Ricci v. DeStefano27 is the only case in this chapter that is not about sex,
per se, but because this case, as originally decided, will likely have
a devastating effect on sex- and gender-based discrimination cases using the
disparate impact method of proof, we have included it in the volume.
Disparate impact cases, unlike disparate treatment cases, do not require
proof of intentional discrimination; rather, disparate impact plaintiffs prevail
if they prove that the employer’s policy or practice creates an adverse disparate
impact on the hiring or promotion of members of a protected group, and if the
employer fails to prove that the policy is job-related and consistent with
business necessity. Plaintiffs have serious difficulties proving intentional dis-
crimination because employers are clearly aware of the antidiscrimination
statutes and hide their motives, make decisions based on implicit bias, and/or
unintentionally set up systems in their organizations that harm employees
because of their gender. Given this reality, a disparate impact cause of action
has the potential to reach a much broader array of organizational behaviors
than the disparate treatment model, which is based on a showing of intentional
discrimination.
Ricci is an especially important case for large employers who use standar-
dized tests and for explaining how the disparate impact and disparate treat-
ment theories should interact. In the original opinion, the Court held that the
City of New Haven had engaged in intentional race discrimination when it
refused to use the results of a promotional exam for firefighters that had
a disparate impact on African American and Latinx candidates. The Court
held that an employer could defend the intentional discrimination that arose
from refusing to certify the test results only if it had a “strong basis in evidence”
to believe that it would have been liable under the disparate impact theory. In
other words, it was insufficient for the department to defend its actions by
proving that the policy in question had a disparate impact on a protected
group, which the Ricci promotion exams clearly had; defendants also had to
prove that a strong basis in evidence existed that its defenses would fail. And
the Court held, as a matter of law, that the employer did not have a strong basis
in evidence to believe that it would have lost a disparate impact challenge if
the test results had been certified. The rewritten opinion, authored by Marley
Weiss, with a commentary by Rebecca Lee, reverses course. Weiss adopts
a new standard: an employer attempting to avoid disparate impact liability is
required only to show that it had an actual belief that it would suffer liability for
disparate impact and that this belief was reasonable at the time it made the
decision. Because this is a reverse discrimination claim, Weiss also places the
27
557 U.S. 557 (2009).
28
See Ann C. McGinley, Ricci v. DeStefano: A Masculinities Theory Analysis, 33 HARV. J.L. &
GENDER 581, 594 (2010). A recent study estimates that there are approximately 40,000 female
firefighters missing from fire departments across the country. This disparity is likely to be the
result of discrimination. See id. (citing Denise R. Hulett et al., A NATIONAL REPORT CARD ON
WOMEN IN FIREFIGHTING 2 (Apr. 2008), www.womeninfire.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/
35827WSP.pdf).
29
See, e.g., McGinley, supra note 28, at 593 (describing the disparate impact litigation against the
New York City fire department that took place in the late 1970s and early 1980s).
30
564 U.S. 338 (2011).
opinion, with a commentary by Charles Sullivan, holds that the plaintiffs can
properly prove commonality by means of statistics and expert testimony.
Green’s opinion also holds that a showing of intent is not necessary when
the statistics demonstrate discriminatory outcomes and the employer fails to
rectify the problem.31
Chapter 8, “Retaliation,” features Clark County School District v. Breeden,32
where the Court held that the plaintiff’s retaliation claim under Title VII fails
because no reasonable person could believe that a single incident of harass-
ment violated Title VII. The rewritten opinion, authored by Michael Green,
with commentary by Rebecca Hanner White, retains the reasonable belief
rule, but applies it in a remarkably broad way. Exposing the bias many women
suffer in the workplace as a result of microaggressions and using the perspec-
tive of a reasonable person in the plaintiff’s shoes, Green holds that even
a single incident of harassment is sufficient to constitute a reasonable belief
that the plaintiff is experiencing actionable harassment. This holding is con-
sistent with the incentives set up under Supreme Court jurisprudence that
encourage employees to complain about harassment early lest they lose their
harassment claim.33 The rewritten opinion also broadens the causation ele-
ment in retaliation cases in two ways. First, it refuses to set a bright-line rule for
the passage of time between the protected activity and the adverse employ-
ment action. Second, it allows mixed-motive causation rather than but-for
causation, which would have made retaliation claims easier to win and
eliminated Univ. Tex. S.W. Medical Center v. Nassar,34 where the Court
held that plaintiffs had to prove that retaliation was a but-for cause of the
adverse employment action.
31
This definition of systemic discrimination that does not require proof of intent may conflict
with the rewritten opinion in Ricci v. DeStefano, which appears to require proof of purpose for
taking the action to sue for systemic intentional discrimination.
32
532 U.S. 268 (2001).
33
Given that the rewritten opinion in Meritor Savings Bank, FSB v. Vinson holds that employers
are strictly liable for their supervisors’ illegal harassment of employees, and there is no
opportunity for employers to prove an affirmative defense, this issue may not be as stark as it
is today because, without the Faragher and Ellerth opinions, employers will not have the
possibility of raising an affirmative defense. Thus employers may not have created policies that
require employees to report harassment as soon as it takes place. Professor Lauren Edelman,
however, has noted that employers began to require reporting of harassment even before
Faragher and Ellerth were decided. See Lauren B. Edelman, WORKING LAW: COURTS,
CORPORATIONS, AND SYMBOLIC CIVIL RIGHTS 11–12 (2016). As noted earlier, the negligence
standard would continue to apply to coworker and customer harassment; thus there would
still be an incentive for employers to want to know about harassment early, so that they will not
be found negligent for failing to remedy it.
34
570 U.S. 338 (2013).
implications
This part addresses two topics. First, we discuss the implications of the body of
rewritten opinions. How would the law have changed for the better? Which
subsequent cases would not have existed? How would the careers (and lives) of
subordinated employees have improved under our rewritten body of cases?
How would the rewritten cases affect the job opportunities of LGBTQ+ or
gender-nonconforming persons? Or of racial, religious, and ethnic minorities?
Second, we discuss the road not taken. Which seminal or well-known cases did
we choose not to rewrite, and why? More importantly, are there areas within
employment discrimination law that we wished we could have fixed, but
did not?
36
See generally Sandra F. Sperino & Suja A. Thomas, UNEQUAL: HOW AMERICA’S COURTS
UNDERMINE DISCRIMINATION LAW (2017) (explaining how the courts have, in essence, deradi-
calized the law).
37
The rewritten law might also mean that sex-specific uniform requirements would also be
unlawful. Although one of us (Ann) is comfortable with that result because she is concerned
about uniform requirements for gender-nonconforming workers, the other (Nicole) is not.
Nicole is worried that gender-neutral uniforms would most likely be based on typical men’s
bodies, and, as a petite woman, Nicole thinks wearing uniforms designed around male bodies
would be quite horrible.
38
See supra note 21 for a description of our decision to rewrite Etsitty and Hively.
39
853 F.3d 339 (7th Cir. 2017) (en banc) (holding that sexual orientation discrimination is sex
discrimination under Title VII).
40
Zarda v. Altitude Express, Inc., 883 F.3d 100 (2d Cir. 2018) (holding that sexual orientation
discrimination is sex discrimination under Title VII), cert. granted 139 S.Ct. 1599 (2019).
41
EEOC v. R.G. & G.R. Harris Funeral Homes, Inc., 884 F.3d 560 (6th Cir. 2018) (holding that
discrimination against a transgender employee is sex discrimination under Title VII), cert.
granted 139 S.Ct. 1599 (2019).
42
See Bostock v. Clayton County Bd. Commissioners, 723 Fed. Appx. 964 (11th Cir. 2018) (holding
that discrimination based on sexual orientation is not prohibited by the sex discrimination
provision of Title VII), cert. granted 139 S.Ct. 1599 (2019); Altitude Express, Inc. v. Zarda, supra
note 40; R.G. & G.R. Harris Funeral Homes v. EEOC, supra note 41. Consolidated cases
Bostock and Zarda ask whether Title VII’s prohibition on discrimination “because of sex”
covers discrimination because of sexual orientation. Harris Funeral Homes asks whether the
prohibition covers discrimination based on gender identity. At time of our final edit, the
Supreme Court has not yet decided these cases.
43
The #MeToo movement, which was originally founded by Tarana Burke in 2006, went viral
after actor Alyssa Milano borrowed the term and posted it online in 2017. The reaction was
explosive: women all over the world declared “#MeToo,” meaning that they too had been
victims of sexual harassment or assault. Articles published by the New York Times and the
New Yorker describing multiple women who had accused movie producer Harvey Weinstein of
sexual violence had prompted Alyssa Milano’s post. See Ann C. McGinley, The Masculinity
Motivation, STAN. L. REV. ONLINE (June 2018), www.stanfordlawreview.org/online/the-
masculinity-motivation/, at nn. 1–4 and accompanying text.
Scheich Jūnis.
Haus in Serdjilla.
Hier aber fiel ich in die Diskussion ein, indem ich mich
erkundigte, ob sich denn die Frau gern hätte fortnehmen lassen.
»Ohne Zweifel,« sagte Jūnis, »es war ihr Wunsch.«
Und daraus ersehen wir, daß das Sittengesetz mit der Sache
nicht viel zu tun hatte, obgleich der Mann den Gatten und Richter so
reich entschädigte.
Dieser Zwischenfall brachte uns auf die Frage, wieviel
gewöhnlich für eine Frau bezahlt würde.
»Für unsereinen,« entgegnete Jūnis, indem er die
unbeschreibliche Miene eines gesellschaftlich Hochstehenden
annahm, »ist das Mädchen nicht unter 4000 Piaster zu haben, aber
ein armer Mann, der kein Geld hat, gibt dem Vater eine Kuh oder
etliche Schafe, und damit begnügt der sich.«
Nachdem er von uns gegangen war, ritt ich über Ruweihā, denn
ich wünschte, die berühmte Kirche mit der danebenstehenden
überkuppelten Grabstätte des Bizzos zu sehen.
Eine andre Kirche in Ruweihā ist kaum weniger gut erhalten als
die des Bizzos, wenn auch weniger schön im Plan. Sie ist besonders
merkwürdig wegen eines dicht an der Südmauer befindlichen
Bauwerkes, welches als ein Glockenturm, ein Grab, eine Kanzel
oder überhaupt nicht gedeutet worden ist. Es erhebt sich in zwei
Stockwerken, von denen das untere, aus sechs Säulen bestehende
eine Plattform trägt, auf deren niedriger Mauer vier Eckpfeiler ruhen,
die Kuppel oder Baldachin tragen. Die Ähnlichkeit mit
norditalienischen Gräbern, z. B. mit dem Monument Rolandino in
Bologna, tritt so stark hervor, daß der Beschauer dem anmutenden
Bauwerk in Ruweihā unwillkürlich dieselbe Bestimmung zuschreibt.
Diese Nacht blieben wir in Dana. Dieses Dorf rühmt sich eines
Pyramidengrabes mit einem Portal aus vier korinthischen Säulen,
das so wohlproportioniert und schön ausgeführt ist, wie man sich nur
etwas zu sehen wünschen kann. Auf unserm Weg von Ruweihā
hinweg kamen wir an einer Wohnstätte vorbei, die mir wie ein Typus
der Hausarchitektur des 6. Jahrhunderts erschien. Sie stand, von
jedwedem Ort durch ein oder zwei Meilen welliges Terrain getrennt,
ganz isoliert da, die offnen Veranden nach Westen gerichtet, das
reizende gegiebelte Portal — es hätte jedem englischen Landhaus
von heutzutage zur Zierde gereicht — nach Norden zu. Im Geiste
sah ich den Eigentümer aus dem 6. Jahrhundert auf der Steinbank
darin sitzen und nach einem Freunde Ausschau halten. Er brauchte
sicher keine Feinde zu fürchten, warum hätte er auch sonst seine
Wohnstätte so weit draußen errichtet und nur durch einen
Gartenzaun geschützt? In Kasr el Banāt, der Jungfernfestung, wie
die Syrer sie bezeichnen, kam mir der hohe soziale Standpunkt, den
man im Djebel Zawijjeh erreicht hat, mehr als an irgend einem
anderen Orte zum Bewußtsein, weil Sicherheit und Wohlstand hier
ganz offenkundig zutage traten, wie auch Muße genug, um der
Kunst zu leben. Im Weiterreiten fragte ich mich, ob die Zivilisation
wirklich nach unsern europäischen Begriffen eine Macht ist, die
unaufhaltsam vorwärts drängt, und in ihr Wappen diejenigen
aufnimmt, die aus ihrem Lauf Nutzen zu ziehen vermögen. Sollte sie
nicht vielmehr, gleich einer Flut, gehen und kommen, und bei diesem
rastlosen Vorwärts und Zurück, zur Zeit der Flut immer wieder
denselben Ort am Gestade berühren?
Ganz spät abends kam einer von Scheich Jūnis' Söhnen geritten,
um sich zu erkundigen, ob sein Vater noch bei uns wäre. Dieser
unternehmungslustige alte Herr war also, nachdem er von uns
gegangen, nicht in den Schoß seiner sich sorgenden Familie
zurückgekehrt, und ich argwöhne, daß sein freundschaftlicher Eifer,
uns auf dem richtigen Weg zu sehen, mit einem feinausgeklügelten
Projekt in Verbindung stand, durch welches er persönlich in jene
lokalen Störungen einzugreifen hoffte, die ihn am Morgen so
beschäftigt hatten. Jedenfalls hatte er sich davon gemacht, sobald
wir außer Sicht gewesen, und die Vermutung lag nahe, daß er zum
Kampfplatz geeilt war. Ich habe nie erfahren, was ihm zugestoßen,
aber wetten will ich, daß es jedenfalls nicht Scheich Jūnis gewesen
ist, der auf das Dorf El Mugharāh zugeritten ist.
Kasr el Banāt.
Drei recht mühselige Tage trennten uns noch von Aleppo. Wir
hätten die Reise ja in zweien zurücklegen können, aber um die mir
gut bekannte Fahrstraße zu vermeiden, hatte ich vorgeschlagen,
einen Umweg nach Osten zu machen, denn war die Gegend auch
nicht interessanter, so mir doch weniger vertraut. Nach
fünfstündigem Ritt über offenes Hügelland gelangten wir nach
Tarutīn. Wir kamen an verschiedenen alten Stätten vorüber, in denen
sich die fast seßhaft gewordenen Araber der Muwālistämme
angesiedelt haben; die ursprünglichen Gebäude fand ich freilich fast
gänzlich in Trümmern. Am ganzen westlichen Saum der Wüste
beginnt der Beduine den Boden urbar zu machen und muß daher in
der Nähe seiner Kulturen feste Wohnungen errichten. »Wir sind
Bauern geworden,« sagte der Scheich von Tarutīn. Wenn in
kommenden Zeiten die ganze Erde unter Pflug und Ernte stehen
wird, wird das Nomadenleben in Arabien aufgehört haben. In der
Zwischenzeit wohnen diese neuerstandenen Bauern in ihren Zelten
weiter, die indessen stehen bleiben und mit ihrem sich darin
aufhäufenden Schmutz eine für alle Sinne fatale Niederlassung
abgeben. Die wenigen Familien Tarutīns hatten die Sitten der Wüste
noch beibehalten; wir fanden in ihnen angenehme Leute, trotzdem
die obigen Bemerkungen auch auf ihre Haarzelte Anwendung finden
müssen.
Grabmal, Dana.
Nur zwei Tage hielt ich mich dort auf, und während der Zeit
regnete es fast unaufhörlich, weshalb ich Aleppo nicht kenne. Die
Stadt des Orients öffnet dir nicht ihre vertrauten Kreise, es sei denn,
du verbringst Monate in ihren Mauern, und selbst dann noch nicht
einmal, wenn du dir nicht Mühe gibst, den Leuten zu gefallen.
Trotzdem verließ ich Aleppo nicht, ohne bemerkt zu haben, daß es
Sehenswertes dort gibt. Es war früher eine prächtige Araberstadt; in
den engen Straßen stößt man auf Minarets und Torwege aus der
schönsten Epoche der arabischen Architektur. In demselben Stil
erbaut sind auch einige der Moscheen, Bäder und Karawansereien,
besonders die halb verfallenen und geschlossenen. In ganz Syrien
aber gibt es kein besseres Muster arabischer Kunst aus dem 12.
Jahrhundert, als die Burg mit ihren eisernen Türen aus derselben
Periode (sie tragen das Datum) und den schönen
Dekorationsfragmenten. Gewiß weist die Stadt auch jetzt noch
Lebenskraft auf, die diesen Zeichen vergangener Größe entspricht,
aber leider sind schlimme Tage ihr Los. Sie ist der Eifersucht
europäischer Konzessionsjäger verfallen und leidet mehr als irgend
eine andere syrische Stadt unter dem würgenden Griff der
Ottomanenherrschaft. Sie droht an dem Mangel eines Ausfuhrweges
nach dem Meere hin zugrunde zu gehen, und weder die
französische noch die deutsche Eisenbahn wird ihr zu Hilfe kommen.
Bis jetzt sind beide Gesellschaften nur geschäftig gewesen, einander
entgegenzuarbeiten. Die ursprüngliche Konzession der Rayak-
Hamah Bahn erstreckte sich bis nach Aleppo und im Norden nach
Biridjik — ich habe gehört, daß die Fahrkarten nach Biridjik gedruckt
wurden, als man die ersten Geleise in Rayak legte. Da kam
Deutschland mit seinem großen Plan einer Bahn nach Bagdad.
Nachdem es die Konzession zu einer Nebenlinie von Killiz nach
Aleppo erlangt, tat es sein Möglichstes, um die Franzosen zu
hindern, über Hamah hinauszugehen, indem es vorgab, die
französische Bahn würde die Konzession der deutschen Bahn
beeinträchtigen. (Meine Information entstammt nicht etwa der
Kaiserlichen Kanzlei, sondern einer heimischen Quelle in Aleppo
selbst.) Seit meiner Abreise haben die Franzosen die unterbrochene
Tätigkeit an der Rayak-Hamah Bahn wieder aufgenommen, sie soll
jedoch, glaube ich, nicht nach Biridjik, sondern nur bis Aleppo
weitergeführt werden.[10] Die Stadt wird keinen Nutzen davon haben.
Aleppos Kaufleute wollen ihre Waren nicht eine dreitägige Reise
nach Beirut machen lassen; sie wünschen einen eignen, zur Hand
gelegenen Seehafen, damit ihnen der Profit ihres Handels auch
zugute kommt — und dieser Hafen müßte Alexandretta sein. Aber
auch aus dem Weiterführen der Bagdadbahn erwächst keinerlei
Aussicht auf Vorteil. Vermittels einer bereits bestehenden
Nebenlinie, die von englischen und französischen Geldmännern
erbaut, aber neuerdings unter deutsche Verwaltung gekommen ist,
wird die Bahn bei Mersina das Meer berühren, aber Mersina ist
ebenso weit von Aleppo wie Beirut. Höchstwahrscheinlich aber ist
es, daß man eine Linie direkt von Aleppo nach Alexandretta legt, da
der Sultan über alles eine Verbindung zwischen den
Karawanenstraßen des Binnenlandes mit der Küste fürchtet,
wodurch ausländischen Truppen, besonders englischen, eine
gefährliche Handhabe geboten würde, aus ihren Kriegsschiffen zu
landen und landeinwärts zu marschieren. Aleppo sollte eigentlich
immer noch, wie in vergangenen Zeiten, den Stapelplatz für die
Landesprodukte abgeben, aber der Handelsverkehr ist gelähmt, da
die Regierung so erschreckend häufig über die Lastkamele verfügt.
Als im vergangenen Jahre der Krieg in Jemen bevorstand, und
Mannschaften sowohl als militärische Requisiten an die Küste
befördert werden mußten, um nach dem Roten Meere geschifft zu
werden, war diese Kalamität äußerst fühlbar. Einen vollen Monat
lang stockte der Handel; die für die Küste bestimmten Waren blieben
in den Bazaren aufgehäuft. Nur kurze Zeit noch, und die Zufuhr hätte
überhaupt aufgehört, da die Kamelbesitzer des Ostens nicht wagten,
ihre Tiere in den Bereich der Gefahr zu bringen. In Aleppo wie in
allen türkischen Städten fürchtete man den Staatsbankrott, hatte
doch die Regierung keinen Fonds zu den dringendsten Arbeiten, die
Schatzkammern waren vollständig erschöpft.
[10] Die Linie ist jetzt bis Aleppo fertiggestellt.
Mein Aufenthalt war zwar von kurzer Dauer, aber nicht ohne
neue Bekanntschaften; die wichtigste war der Vāli. Kiāzim Pascha ist
ganz andrer Art als der Vāli von Damaskus. In demselben Maße wie
der letztere sich, seiner Begabung entsprechend, als wirklicher
Staatsmann zeigt, ist Kiāzim ein bloßer Farceur. Er empfing mich in
seinem Harem, wofür ich ihm dankbar war, denn ich sah seine Frau,
eine der schönsten Frauen, die man sehen kann. Sie ist schlank und
doch voll, der dunkle Kopf sitzt auf prächtigen Schultern, die Nase ist
klein und gerade, das Kinn spitz, und ihre Brauen wölben sich über
Augen, die wie dunkle Gewässer schimmern. Konnte ich doch den
Blick nicht von ihrem Gesicht wenden, während sie bei uns saß. Sie
und ihr Gatte sind Zirkassier, weshalb ich auf meiner Hut war, ehe
der Vāli den Mund öffnete. Sie sprachen beide Französisch, er sogar
sehr gut. Nachdem er mich in seiner ungenierten Weise willkommen
geheißen, bemerkte er:
»Ich bin der junge Pascha, der Frieden zwischen den Kirchen
gestiftet hat.« Nun war mir bekannt, daß er zu einer Zeit Muteserrif
zu Jerusalem gewesen, als die Eifersüchteleien zwischen den
christlichen Parteien zu außergewöhnlich heftigem Blutvergießen
geführt hatten, und daß es zu einer Art von erzwungenem Vertrag
gekommen war — ob infolge seines Scharfsinnes oder der
Dringlichkeit des Falles, wußte ich jedoch nicht.
»Für wie alt halten Sie mich?« fragte der Pascha.
Mein Taktgefühl gab mir ein, ihn auf 35 zu schätzen.
»36!« erklärte er triumphierend. »Aber die Konsuln hörten auf
mich! Mon Dieu! ein bessrer Posten als dieser hier, wenn ich auch nun
Vāli bin. Hier kann man keine Konferenz mit Konsuln abhalten, und
einem Manne wie mir ist der Umgang mit gebildeten Europäern
Bedürfnis.«
(Ein weiterer Grund zu Mißtrauen: ein orientalischer Beamter,
welcher erklärt, den Verkehr mit Europäern vorzuziehen!)
»Ich bin sehr engländerfreundlich,« fuhr er fort, worauf ich die
Dankbarkeit meines Landes in geeigneten Ausdrücken übermittelte.
»Aber was suchen Sie in Jemen?« fügte er schnell hinzu.
»Exzellenz,« sagte ich, »wir Engländer sind eine Schiffahrt
treibende Nation, und ganz Arabien hat nur zwei Orte, die uns berüh
—«
»Ich weiß,« fuhr er dazwischen, »Mekka und Medina.«
»Nein,« sagte ich, »Aden und Kweit.«
»Und Sie behaupten sie beide,« gab er scharf zurück — ja ich
muß gestehen, sein Ton war nicht der eines Engländer-Schwärmers.
Alsdann begann er mir zu erklären, daß er als einziger unter den
Paschas die Bedürfnisse der Jetztzeit erfaßt habe. Er gedenke eine
schöne Chaussee nach Alexandretta zu legen (viel Zweck wird sie ja
nicht haben — dachte ich bei mir — wenn keine Kamele vorhanden
sind, um sie zu begehen), ganz wie die Straße, die er von Samaria
nach Jerusalem geführt hätte. Solch eine Straße solle man in der
Türkei suchen — ob ich sie kenne? Ich war kürzlich darauf gereist
und ergriff die Gelegenheit, den Schöpfer derselben zu
beglückwünschen, hielt es aber nicht für nötig zu erwähnen, daß sie
am Fuße der einzigen nennenswerten Steigung abbricht und erst
wieder da einsetzt, wo man die Höhe des Plateaus von Judäa
erreicht hat.
Des weiteren brauche ich mich über Kiāzim Paschas
Eigentümlichkeiten nicht zu ergehen.
Eine weit anziehendere Bekanntschaft war der griechisch-
katholische Erzbischof, ein Damaszener, der in Paris erzogen und
dort eine Zeitlang auch Seelsorger der griechisch-katholischen
Gemeinde gewesen war. Trotzdem ist er noch verhältnismäßig jung.
Ich war mit einem Empfehlungsbrief versehen, nach dessen
Empfang er mich höchst leutselig in sein Privathaus einlud. Da
saßen wir in dem mit Büchern angefüllten Raum, dessen Fenster die
Aussicht auf den stillen Hof seines Palastes boten, und unterhielten
uns von den Bahnen, in welche der Geist Europas eingelenkt hatte.
Ich bemerkte mit Genugtuung, daß der Erzbischof, trotz seiner
Gelehrsamkeit und seines Aufenthaltes im Westen, im Herzen
Orientale geblieben war.
»Ich freute mich, als mir der Befehl wurde, aus Paris in mein
eignes Land zurückzukehren,« sagte er. »Es gibt viel Gelehrsamkeit
und wenig Glauben in Frankreich; in Syrien findet man zwar viel
Unwissenheit, aber die Religion ruht auf einer festen Grundlage des
Glaubens.«
Die Schlußfolgerung, die aus dieser Darlegung gezogen werden
kann, ist zwar nicht schmeichelhaft für die Kirche, aber ich enthielt
mich eines Kommentars.
Am Nachmittag erschien er zum Gegenbesuch — muß doch vom
Vāli abwärts jedermann dieser gesellschaftlichen Verpflichtung
nachkommen. Er hatte das goldene Kreuz angelegt und trug den
erzbischöflichen Stab in der Hand. Von seinem hohen, randlosen
Hut fiel ein schwarzer Schleier über seinen Rücken nieder, und seine
schwarzen Gewänder waren mit Purpur gesäumt. Hinter ihm her
schritt ein willfähriger Kaplan. Er traf bereits einen Besucher in
meinem Hotelzimmer an, Nicola Homsi, einen reichen Bankier aus
seiner eignen Gemeinde. Er gehört einer einflußreichen
Christenfamilie in Aleppo an, und sein Bankgeschäft hat Filialen in
Marseille und London. Beide, er und der Erzbischof, vertraten
sozusagen die unternehmendsten und gebildetsten Klassen Syriens.
Sie sind es, die durch die Türken zu leiden haben — der Geistliche
durch die blinde, kleinliche Opposition der Behörden, die den
Christen überall entgegentritt, der Bankier, weil seine Interessen
überall gebieterisch nach Fortschritt rufen, und Fortschritt ist es, was
der Türke nie begreifen will. Als ich die Herren daher nach ihren
Ansichten über die Zukunft des Landes befragte, sahen sie einander
an, und der Erzbischof gab zur Antwort:
»Ich weiß nicht ..... ich habe die Frage gründlich erwogen, aber
wie ich sie auch beleuchte, eine Zukunft für Syrien erblicke ich
nicht.«
Das ist die einzige glaubwürdige Antwort, die mir über irgend
einen Punkt der türkischen Frage geworden ist.
Die Luft von Aleppo eignet sich nach des Sultans Dafürhalten
ganz ausgezeichnet für Paschas, die bei ihm in Konstantinopel in
Ungnade gefallen sind. Die Stadt birgt eine solche Menge
Verbannter, daß selbst der gelegentliche Besucher mit einigen
Bekanntschaft schließen muß. So wohnte auch in meinem Hotel ein
Dyspeptiker von demütigem Auftreten, dem wahrscheinlich niemand
revolutionäre Gelüste zugetraut hätte. Vermutlich hatte er auch keine
und verdankte seine Verbannung nur einer gelegentlichen
Bemerkung, die von einem Feinde oder Spion hinterbracht und
verschärft worden war. Ich habe viele dieser Verbannten über
Kleinasien verstreut angetroffen, und keiner hat mir sagen können,
wofür ihn eigentlich sein Geschick betroffen. Gewiß hat mancher
seine Vermutungen gehabt, und manchem ist sein Vergehen genau
bekannt gewesen, aber die meisten waren wohl so unschuldig, wie
sie zu sein vorgaben. Das wirft ein schärferes Licht auf die Frage
vom türkischen Patriotismus, als anfänglich erscheinen mag, denn
es ist Tatsache, daß diese ausgewiesenen Paschas selten Patrioten
sind, die für ihre Hingabe an ein hohes Ideal büßen, sondern meist
Männer, welche sich durch eine unselige Schicksalsfügung der
bestehenden Ordnung entfremden ließen. Wofern ihnen die
geringste Hoffnung winkt, daß ihnen die Gunst wieder lächelt, zeigen
sie selbst in der Verbannung eine nervöse Furcht, irgend etwas zu
tun, was bei den Behörden Verdacht erwecken könnte; erst wenn sie
eingesehen haben, daß zu Lebzeiten des regierenden Sultans keine
Hoffnung für sie existiert, geben sie sich dem Verkehr mit Europäern
ohne Zwang hin, sprechen auch offen von ihren Trübsalen. Es gibt,
soviel ich sehen kann, keine organisierte Körperschaft für freisinnige
Ansichten, alles beruht auf individuellem Mißvergnügen, das durch
persönliches Mißgeschick hervorgerufen wird. Schwerlich werden
die Ausgewiesenen, wenn sie bei dem Tode des Sultans nach
Konstantinopel zurückkehren, irgend welcher Reform das Wort
reden oder den Wunsch äußern, ein System zu ändern, durch
welches sie, infolge der natürlichen Umwälzung der Dinge, wieder zu
Einfluß gelangen können.
Es gibt dann noch eine andre, ehrbare Verbannung in der Türkei:
die Versetzung an einen entfernten Posten. Zu dieser Klasse gehört
mein Freund Mohammed 'Ali Pascha von Aleppo und wohl auch
Nāzim Pascha selbst. Der erstere, ein angenehmer Mann von etwa
30 Jahren, ist mit einer Engländerin verheiratet. Er geleitete mich in
das Haus des Vāli, erwirkte mir die Erlaubnis, die Zitadelle zu sehen,
und machte sich auf manch andre Weise nützlich. Seine Gemahlin
war eine nette, aus Brixton stammende kleine Dame, er hatte sie in
Konstantinopel kennen gelernt und dort geheiratet; soviel ich weiß,
ist das teilweise der Grund, weshalb er in Ungnade fiel, denn die
englische Nation ist keineswegs gens grata im Yildiz Kiosk.
Mohammed Pascha ist ein Gentleman in des Wortes vollem Sinne,
und er scheint seine Gattin glücklich zu machen, aber — verstehen
Sie recht — im allgemeinen möchte ich türkische Paschas nicht zu
Gatten für Brixtons Jungfrauen empfehlen. Denn wenn jene Dame
schon Tennis spielen und die Nähkränzchen der europäischen
Kolonie besuchen durfte, mußte sie sich doch bis zu einem
gewissen Grade den Sitten der muselmännischen Frauen
anbequemen. Sie betrat nie unbeschleiert die Straße, »weil,« wie sie
sagte, »die Leute reden würden, wenn die Frau eines Pascha ihr
Antlitz sehen ließ.«
Wasserträger.
Wir erklommen die Burg in der einzigen Stunde meines
Aufenthaltes in Aleppo, wo die Sonne schien, und wurden von
höflichen Offizieren in prächtigen Uniformen und mit rasselnden
Schwertern und Sporen umhergeführt. Sie waren besonders
ängstlich, daß ich nicht die kleine, in der Mitte der Festung stehende
Moschee übersehen sollte, die an jener Stelle errichtet war, wo
Abraham seine Kuh melkte. Wie sie sagten, ist selbst der Name
Aleppo auf diesen historischen Vorfall zurückzuführen, und ohne
Zweifel besteht seine arabische Form, Haleb, aus denselben
Stammlauten, die auch das Stammwort melken bilden. Trotz der
hohen Bedeutung der Moschee interessierte mich die Aussicht von
der Spitze des Minarets mehr. Flach wie eine Planke lag unter uns
die Mesopotamische Ebene ausgebreitet; bei schönem Wetter ist
der Euphrat sichtbar, ja selbst Bagdad könnte man sehen, wenn die
störende Rundung der Erde nicht wäre, denn keine andre Schranke
hemmt den Blick auf dieser weiten Fläche. Zu unsern Füßen
drängten sich die Dächer der Bazare und Karawansereien;
dazwischen dann und wann ein Blick aus der Vogelperspektive auf
Marmorhöfe, und hier und da der schöne Turm eines Minarets.
Bäume und Wasser fehlten in der Landschaft, wie Wasser überhaupt
die große Schwierigkeit in Aleppo ist. Der träge Strom, der den
Matkh verläßt, vertrocknet im Sommer, und die Quellen schmecken
das ganze Jahr hindurch salzig. Gutes Trinkwasser muß von weit
her geholt werden und kostet jedem Hausstand wenigstens einen
Piaster pro Tag — eine ernste Verteurung des Lebensunterhaltes.
Dafür ist aber das Klima günstig; der Winter bringt scharfe Kälte, und
der Sommer nicht über einen oder zwei Monate übergroße Hitze.
Das wäre Aleppo, die Stadt mit dem volltönenden Namen und den
Spuren einer glänzenden Vergangenheit.