The ACLU of Eastern Missouri filed an amicus brief in support of the plaintiffs in this important case about the scope of civil rights protection for customers in retail settings. The plaintiffs, who claim an interference with their right to contract when they were provided slow service and put under surveillance based on their race, appealed after their case was dismissed on summary judgment.
The district court found that the race-based profiling and harassment, even if assumed to have actually occurred, was not actionable because the customers were not completely prevented from completing transactions. A divided three-judge panel of the Eighth Circuit reversed and found that plaintiffs were entitled to their day in court. The full appellate court granted the department store’s petition for rehearing and scheduled an oral argument for April 2008. The ACLU of Eastern Missouri was allowed to file a brief in support of the plaintiffs in advance of the argument before the full court.