The Civil Rights Act of 1866—commonly referred to as Section 1981—not only protects against intentional race discrimination but also against hiring discrimination based on U.S. citizenship, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit held June 27, 2024, in Rajaram v. Meta Platforms.
Section 1981 provides that “all persons” within U.S. jurisdiction “shall have the same right … to make and enforce contracts” as “white citizens.” Section 1981 is a Civil War-era statute that has been applied to support claims of intentional race discrimination.
Rajaram, a naturalized U.S. citizen, alleged that a prospective employer unlawfully refused to hire him in favor of hiring nonimmigrant visa holders. The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California ruled that U.S. citizens are not a protected class under Section 1981.
A split Ninth Circuit panel reversed, ruling that Rajaram has standing to sue under Section 1981. It found that Section 1981’s protections against citizenship discrimination extend to U.S. citizens when the favored class consists of nonimmigrant visa holders.
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