Description

How did the sexual harassment litigation campaign succeed in defining a new antidiscr imination principle in the midst of the Reagan-era backlash against civil rights? In 1986, the U.S. Supreme Court definitively established sexual harassment as a violation of Ti tle VII. Meritor v. Vinson, 477 U.S. 57 (1986). This unanimous conclusion, with an opinion draf ted by conservative jurist William Rehnquist, capped a series of victories for sexual harassmen t plaintiffs in the federal appellate courts. This feminist revolution gained steam a t the same moment as the Reagan-era conservative backlash against civil righ ts law began. Legal accountability for sexually hostile work environments seemingly developed i n a hostile political environment.

My aim is to use this case to ask when and how organized rights mobilizat ion can be effective despite a seemingly hostile political climate. In parti cular, I explore the role of litigants, who make important decisions about how rights are contes ted in our legal system. The work of parties in general, and social movements in parti cular, remains both relatively under-theorized in public law, and frequently absent from promi nent empirical works.