Opinion ID: 736912
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The First Prong of Georgia v. Rachel

Text: 26 The Trustees assert that their case satisfies both requirements for § 1443(1) removability as set forth in Rachel and interpreted in Peacock. While they invoke 42 U.S.C. § 1985(3) with respect to both prongs, in terms of the first prong, they contend that the filing of the state court defamation action was an act in furtherance of a racially motivated conspiracy to deny them their equal civil rights. 5 The Trustees point out that § 1985(3) was designed to redress injuries that result from a conspiracy motivated by race-based animus, and submit, therefore, that they have invoked the protection of an equal civil rights statute as required by the Court in Rachel. 27 Intuitively, § 1985 would seem to constitute an equal civil rights statute. It surely provides a cause of action for one who has been the victim of conspiratorial racial discrimination, and hence denied the equal protection of the laws. Furthermore, its origins rest in the Klu Klux Klan Act of 1871, an Act passed exclusively to redress civil rights violations motivated by racial prejudice. See Griffin v. Breckenridge, 403 U.S. 88, 98, 91 S.Ct. 1790, 1796, 29 L.Ed.2d 338 (1971) (Klu Klux Klan Act of 1871 is the parent of § 1985(3)). 28 It is not clear, however, that § 1985(3) satisfies the technical nature of the Court's jurisprudence in this area. In fact, Rachel and Peacock suggest that a state court defendant must invoke a statute that expressly provides for equal rights stated specifically in terms of racial equality. Peacock, 384 U.S. at 828, 86 S.Ct. at 1812-13. The one circuit to have considered § 1985(3) in the context of § 1443(1) removal affirmed the remand order of the district court, and stated, without exposition, that the district court had properly followed Rachel. Doe v. Berry, 967 F.2d 1255, 1256 (8th Cir.1992). In contrast, courts that have granted removal under § 1443(1) addressed claims brought under civil rights statutes that specifically protected civil rights based on racial equality. See Conrad v. Robinson, 871 F.2d 612, 615 (6th Cir.1989) (holding that the first prong was satisfied where defendant claimed protection, under 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-3, from retaliation for engaging in activity protected by 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-2(c), which forbids limiting union membership on account of race, color, religion, sex, or national origin); Sofarelli v. Pinellas County, 931 F.2d 718, 721 (11th Cir.1991) (first prong satisfied where defendant asserted protection under the Fair Housing Act, which prohibits discrimination in housing on the basis of race). 29 Even if § 1985(3) is deemed to protect specifically against race-based discrimination as the Rachel Court required, the Commissioners contend that the Trustees' claim must falter on an altogether different ground. They submit that, in actuality, the Trustees are using the vehicle of a § 1985 claim to protect their First Amendment rights. That is not an implausible contention, and, were it to be the case, the Trustees' removal action would be improper, for the Supreme Court has held that the First Amendment rights of free expression ... are not rights arising under a law providing for 'equal civil rights' within the meaning of § 1443(1). Peacock, 384 U.S. at 825, 86 S.Ct. at 1811. However, more than asserting that the filing of the state defamation action violates their First Amendment rights, the Trustees contend that the Commissioners filed the defamation action in direct retaliation for the filing of a federal civil rights action alleging racial discrimination in violation of federal law. 30 The status of § 1985(3) as an equal civil rights statute is thus unclear, with strong arguments on both sides in terms of the jurisprudence. Fortunately, however, we need not reach this close and difficult issue because we conclude, for reasons described herein, that the Trustees have failed to satisfy the second Rachel prong.