In United States of America v. County of Maricopa, published May 7, 2018, the 9th Circuit affirmed summary judgment in favor of the United States in a lawsuit to halt racially discriminatory police traffic stop policies instituted by the defendant county's former sheriff, Joe Arpaio. Under those policies, the sheriff's department routinely targeted Latino drivers and passengers for pretextual traffic stops aimed at detecting illegal immigration.
The panel affirmed that the sheriff was a final policymaking official for the county. Then, in issues of first impression, the panel determined that the same standards governing local governments' liability under 42 U.S.C. section 1983 for the acts of policymakers apply to local government liability under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. § 2000d (prohibiting discrimination based on race, color, or national origin in programs that receive federal funding) and 34 U.S.C. § 12601 (authorizing the United States to obtain injunctive and declaratory relief against a governmental authority that engages in a policy and practice of conduct by law enforcement officers that deprives persons of rights protected under federal law). Because of the similarities between section 1983 and the other two civil rights statutes, applying the same standards for imposing policyholder liability is appropriate.
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