Employment Discrimination

For the first time in the life of this Article, the 2003 survey period appears to have experienced a marked decrease in the number of decisions handed down by the United States Supreme Court and the Eleventh Circuit in the area of employment discrimination. As Title VII approaches its fortieth anniversary, perhaps this is an indication that there are fewer and fewer unsettled questions of law in this area. However, this decline in the number of decisions does not mean that the 2003 survey period was insignificant. The Supreme Court, in Raytheon Co. v. Hernandez, continued its string of decisions restricting the potential scope of the ADA, and in Desert Palace, Inc. v. Costa, the court rendered an important decision on the burden of proof in mixed-motive cases.

Moreover, the Eleventh Circuit, after taking a year's vacation with respect to the difficult area of sexual harassment, rendered two very significant decisions clarifiying how employers may defend such actions.