Supreme Court of the United States

Ash v. Tyson Foods, Inc.

February 21, 2006546 U.S. 454

Summary

In a per curiam opinion, the Supreme Court vacated the Eleventh Circuit's judgment in this Title VII and 42 U.S.C. § 1981 failure-to-promote case, identifying two errors. First, the Court of Appeals erred in holding that the term 'boy,' absent a racial modifier, can never evidence discriminatory intent; the term standing alone is not always benign, and its meaning may depend on context, inflection, tone of voice, local custom, and historical usage. Second, the Court of Appeals' 'jump off the page and slap you in the face' standard for establishing pretext through superior qualifications was unhelpful and imprecise, though the Court declined to define the precise governing standard or to hold that petitioners' evidence necessarily showed pretext. The case was remanded for the Court of Appeals to determine in the first instance whether the two mistaken aspects of its decision were essential to its holding.

Holding

  • Whether modifiers or racial classifications are necessary in all instances to render the term 'boy' probative of racial bias.. Although the disputed word will not always be evidence of racial animus, it does not follow that the term, standing alone, is always benign; insofar as the Court of Appeals held that modifiers or qualifications are necessary in all instances to render the term probative of bias, its decision is erroneous.
  • Whether the Court of Appeals applied the correct standard for determining whether superior-qualifications evidence establishes pretext.. Qualifications evidence may suffice, at least in some circumstances, to show pretext, and the 'jump off the page and slap you in the face' formulation is unhelpful and imprecise as an elaboration of that standard; some formulation other than the test the Court of Appeals articulated would better ensure that trial courts reach consistent results.

Docket 05-379

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