Opinion ID: 676060
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Rufo's First Prong and Its Adaptation: Prerequisites for Modification

Text: 158 As previously discussed, Rufo normally permits modification only to accommodate a significant change in facts or law. Rufo v. Inmates of Suffolk County Jail, --- U.S. ----, ----, 112 S.Ct. 748, 765, 116 L.Ed.2d 867 (1992). However, we must adapt that general rule to the peculiar procedural posture of the present case. Rufo involved, and envisions, a typical consent decree modification proceeding in which all the participants are parties to the original decree. Cf. Fed.R.Civ.P. 60(b) (allowing parties to seek decree modifications). Parties to a consent decree are estopped by their status as signatories from challenging the decree's validity under law existing when they accepted the decree. In re Birmingham Reverse Discrimination Employment Litig., 833 F.2d 1492, 1501 (11th Cir.1987), aff'd sub nom., Martin v. Wilks, 490 U.S. 755, 109 S.Ct. 2180, 104 L.Ed.2d 835 (1989). As a result, where a modification proceeding involves only parties to the original decree, a change in law or fact is a prerequisite to modification or termination of the decree. 159 That was Rufo, but this case is different. Consistent with the Supreme Court's decision in Martin v. Wilks, the district court allowed the Wilks class, which was not a party to the original decrees, to intervene in the present modification proceeding. The Wilks intervenors, unlike the original parties, are not estopped from collaterally attacking the validity of the decree as originally adopted. Martin v. Wilks, 490 U.S. at 761-62, 109 S.Ct. at 2184. In fact, they are doing just that in the parallel reverse-discrimination case. 160 This atypical situation raises the question whether intervenors, like parties, may challenge a consent decree's validity based on changes in the law alone, or instead may seek modifications even if there has been no change in the law. 14 Rufo does not consider or answer this question, which should not recur often. 15 161 Common sense demands that intervenors be allowed to challenge the constitutional validity of a consent decree under the law that exists at the time of the challenge, irrespective of whether that law has changed since the decree was entered. Because intervenors may seek to alter or dissolve a consent decree through a collateral attack, In re Birmingham Reverse Discrimination Employment Litig., 833 F.2d 1492, 1496 & n. 13, 1498-99 (11th Cir.1987), aff'd sub nom., Martin v. Wilks, 490 U.S. 755, 109 S.Ct. 2180, 104 L.Ed.2d 835 (1989), it is pointless to prohibit a similar challenge in a modification proceeding. It is far better to resolve all of the modification questions at one time rather than to split those questions between two or more proceedings. 162 We hold that, in the unusual circumstances of this case, the intervenors may bring challenges based on current law, regardless of whether that law has changed. Accordingly, modifications are warranted if necessary to prevent the decrees from violating governing constitutional standards--whether or not those standards had already been announced at the time the decrees were entered. Only by so adapting Rufo's prerequisite to the unusual posture of the present case can we adhere to Rufo's spirit: a call for flexible, prospective reconsideration of aging consent decrees to ensure their continuing validity. Moreover, although our holding may at first appear to make consent decrees more vulnerable, it should have just the opposite effect. A modification proceeding may, to the extent outlined above, be used to make constitutional an otherwise unconstitutional decree--saving it from continuing collateral attack. 163 We now consider whether existing constitutional standards require modification of these decrees' gender preferences. When the district court entered the decrees, the Supreme Court had recently decided that gender-based classifications were subject to intermediate scrutiny under the Equal Protection Clause. Craig v. Boren, 429 U.S. 190, 197, 97 S.Ct. 451, 457, 50 L.Ed.2d 397 (1976). In addition, the Supreme Court had specifically employed an intermediate scrutiny standard in upholding a gender-conscious government program designed to [reduce] the disparity in economic condition between men and women caused by the long history of discrimination against women. Califano v. Webster, 430 U.S. 313, 317, 97 S.Ct. 1192, 1194, 51 L.Ed.2d 360 (1977). The decision in Mississippi University for Women v. Hogan, 458 U.S. 718, 102 S.Ct. 3331, 73 L.Ed.2d 1090 (1982), clarified that a classification must pass intermediate scrutiny even if the state's asserted purpose is benign. Id. at 728, 102 S.Ct. at 3338. 164 It has been suggested that Croson changed the rule established by Craig, Califano, and Hogan, so that gender-based affirmative action is now subject to strict scrutiny just like race-based affirmative action. See John Galotto, Note, Strict Scrutiny for Gender, Via Croson, 93 Colum.L.Rev. 508, 508 (1993) (Croson compels the application of strict scrutiny to all forms of gender discrimination.); but see Peter Lurie, Comment, The Law as They Found It: Disentangling Gender-Based Affirmative Action Programs from Croson, 59 U.Chi.L.Rev. 1563, 1564 (1992) (One standard, intermediate scrutiny, must apply to all gender classifications.). Indeed, several post-Croson cases have, with little or no discussion, followed this approach. See Brunet v. City of Columbus, 1 F.3d 390, 404 (6th Cir.1993) (Under the precedent in this Circuit, gender based affirmative action plans are subject to strict scrutiny when challenged under the Equal Protection Clause.); Long v. City of Saginaw, 911 F.2d 1192, 1196 (6th Cir.1990) (The strict scrutiny standard was adopted by a majority of the Court in [Croson ] as the standard by which 'affirmative action' cases are to be reviewed.); Conlin v. Blanchard, 890 F.2d 811, 816 (6th Cir.1989) (applying strict scrutiny, without discussion, to a gender-conscious affirmative action program); American Subcontractors Ass'n v. City of Atlanta, 259 Ga. 14, 376 S.E.2d 662, 664 (1989) (striking down a race- and gender-conscious affirmative action program under a strict scrutiny standard, the appropriateness of which is conceded by the parties). 165 We find those cases unpersuasive. Nothing in Croson suggests that the Supreme Court intended sub silentio to strike down its own decisions applying intermediate scrutiny to gender classifications. While it may seem odd that it is now easier to uphold affirmative action programs for women than for racial minorities, Supreme Court precedent compels that result. Compare Croson, 488 U.S. at 498-508, 109 S.Ct. at 724-30 (applying strict scrutiny to race-based affirmative action) with Califano, 430 U.S. at 317, 97 S.Ct. at 457 (applying intermediate scrutiny to gender-based affirmative action). We may not, of course, disobey the Supreme Court. 166 We also note that each post-Croson case that has considered in detail whether Croson applies to gender classifications has concluded that it does not. Contractors Ass'n v. City of Philadelphia, 6 F.3d 990, 1000-01 (3d Cir.1993); Coral Constr. Co. v. King County, 941 F.2d 910, 930-31 (9th Cir.1991), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 112 S.Ct. 875, 116 L.Ed.2d 780 (1992); cf. Milwaukee County Pavers Ass'n v. Fiedler, 922 F.2d 419, 422 (7th Cir.) (Croson is about favoritism toward racial and ethnic groups, not about favoritism toward women. The Supreme Court does not consider discrimination against women to be as invidious ... as discrimination against blacks or other racial minorities; nor ... does it consider discrimination against men to be as invidious as racial discrimination.), cert. denied, 500 U.S. 954, 111 S.Ct. 2261, 114 L.Ed.2d 714 (1991); see also Lamprecht v. Federal Communications Comm'n, 958 F.2d 382, 391 (D.C.Cir.1992) (majority opinion of Thomas, Circuit Justice). A year after Croson, we recognized that intermediate scrutiny still applied in gender discrimination cases: For a considerable time now, the law has been quite clear that [discrimination] on the basis of sex is unconstitutional, unless that conduct is ... substantially related to the furtherance of an important government interest. Nicholson v. Georgia Dep't of Human Resources, 918 F.2d 145, 148 (11th Cir.1990). 167 Our decision in Cone Corp. v. Hillsborough County, 908 F.2d 908 (11th Cir.), cert. denied, 498 U.S. 983, 111 S.Ct. 516, 112 L.Ed.2d 528 (1990), says nothing to the contrary. There, we held that a race- and gender-conscious minority business enterprise program survived strict scrutiny. Id. at 914-17. We did not consider whether a less-exacting standard applied to the gender-conscious provisions of the program. We did not need to do so, given our holding that the plan satisfied even the searching Croson test. Intermediate scrutiny remains the applicable constitutional standard in gender discrimination cases. 168 Although there has been no significant change in the governing constitutional standard since the gender-conscious provisions of the decrees were adopted, for reasons we have discussed relating to the presence of intervenors, those provisions nevertheless must comply with present constitutional standards. We next explain why the gender-conscious provisions of the decrees are unconstitutional and require further modification. 169