[EL] Civil Penalty for "Civic Courage"?

[Chambers, Hank]

Hey Sam –

Of course, there is no reason to believe this is politically motivated, but I did not want to get into the specifics of the employment discrimination charges.  That is why I directed folks to the complaint in my first post.
Happy to communicate off-list with anyone who does want to talk about the employment discrimination allegations, as I teach employment discrimination in addition to voting rights.

-Hank

Henry L. Chambers, Jr.
Professor of Law
University of Richmond School of Law
28 Westhampton Way
Richmond, Va. 23173
(804) 289-8199
hchamber at richmond.edu



From: Samuel Bagenstos [mailto:sbagen at gmail.com]
Sent: Tuesday, September 27, 2016 4:55 PM
To: Chambers, Hank
Cc: Sean Parnell; Steve Hoersting; law-election at uci.edu
Subject: Re: [EL] Civil Penalty for "Civic Courage"?

Do the people writing about this have any basis for concluding that this is politically motivated and not just a case of an antidiscrimination enforcement agency thinking it has a case?  I don't see any.

On Tue, Sep 27, 2016 at 4:49 PM, Chambers, Hank <hchamber at richmond.edu<mailto:hchamber at richmond.edu>> wrote:
Absolutely, the government should not retaliate against private citizens for demonstrating civic courage.  On the flip side, if the government can prove its case, Thiel should not be able to inoculate his company from the consequences of engaging in discriminatory behavior by speaking at the RNC (or the DNC for that matter) and rallying political friends to his cause.

-Hank

Henry L. Chambers, Jr.
Professor of Law
University of Richmond School of Law
28 Westhampton Way
Richmond, Va. 23173
(804) 289-8199<tel:%28804%29%20289-8199>
hchamber at richmond.edu<mailto:hchamber at richmond.edu>

From: Sean Parnell [mailto:sean at impactpolicymanagement.com<mailto:sean at impactpolicymanagement.com>]
Sent: Tuesday, September 27, 2016 3:51 PM
To: Chambers, Hank; 'Steve Hoersting'; law-election at uci.edu<mailto:law-election at uci.edu>
Subject: RE: [EL] Civil Penalty for "Civic Courage"?

Steve and/or the Breitbart article may have overstated the “penalty for civic courage,” but I assume we can all agree that if the DoL action has in fact been taken in retaliation for Peter Thiel’s political/policy advocacy, it should be hugely troubling? That there should be no “penalty for civic courage” emanating from the government?

Oh, and for what it’s worth, a review of the DoL filing shows the department’s action on this dates back to at least October of 2015, so it’s not clear this recent action is tied to his recent speech (though his political/ideological views have been known for a while).

Sean Parnell
President, Impact Policy Management LLC
Alexandria, Virginia
571-289-1374<tel:571-289-1374>
sean at impactpolicymanagement.com<mailto:sean at impactpolicymanagement.com>



From: law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu<mailto:law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu> [mailto:law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu] On Behalf Of Chambers, Hank
Sent: Tuesday, September 27, 2016 3:17 PM
To: Steve Hoersting <hoersting at gmail.com<mailto:hoersting at gmail.com>>; law-election at uci.edu<mailto:law-election at uci.edu>
Subject: Re: [EL] Civil Penalty for "Civic Courage"?

In its six-page complaint  (https://www.dol.gov/sites/default/files/newsroom/newsreleases/OFCCP20160926_0.pdf ), the government asserts that Palantir, a government contractor that Peter Thiel co-founded, violated an executive order that bars employment discrimination by government contractors.  If Palantir has violated the order, it may lose its government contracts.  Back to 2010, Palantir has been a party to government contracts of $340 million.  Losing the contracts would hurt, but does not appear to be a $340,000,000 civil penalty.

We are a long way from 7 minutes of supposed civic courage (Peter Thiel’s RNC speech) causing a $340 million civil penalty.

-Hank

Henry L. Chambers, Jr.
Professor of Law
University of Richmond School of Law
28 Westhampton Way
Richmond, Va. 23173
(804) 289-8199<tel:%28804%29%20289-8199>
hchamber at richmond.edu<mailto:hchamber at richmond.edu>

From: law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu<mailto:law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu> [mailto:law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu] On Behalf Of Steve Hoersting
Sent: Tuesday, September 27, 2016 2:18 PM
To: law-election at uci.edu<mailto:law-election at uci.edu>
Subject: [EL] Civil Penalty for "Civic Courage"?

What's the civil penalty for 7 minutes of J. Scalia's "civic courage"?

$340,000,000.00, quite possibly. Chicken feed....

http://www.breitbart.com/california/2016/09/26/palantir-obama-admin-sues-peter-thiels-racial-discrimination/

--
Stephen M. Hoersting

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--
Samuel Bagenstos
sbagen at gmail.com<mailto:sbagen at gmail.com>
Twitter: @sbagen
My University of Michigan homepage: http://www.law.umich.edu/FacultyBio/Pages/FacultyBio.aspx?FacID=sambagen
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