7 - Commentary on Linton v. Commissioner of Health and Environment

Summary

Linton v. Commissioner of Health & Environment was a 1965 case from the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals in which the plaintiffs alleged disparate-impact racial discrimination. The Tennessee Medicaid program covered the skilled nursing facility care but allowed facilities to certify a limited number of beds for Medicaid patients (for whom the facilities typically received lower rates). The plaintiffs argued that the limited bed policy violated the federal Medicaid statute and had a disparate impact on black Medicaid recipients in violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act. In the original opinion, the court side-stepped the discrimination issue, relying instead on the finding that the state had violated the Medicaid statute. Professor Gwendolyn Majette’s feminist concurrence corrects the Sixth Circuit’s failure to address the Title VI issue and provides a fuller, more comprehensive analysis that addresses the intersection of gender, race, class, and age. Professor Ruqaiijah Yearby’s commentary explores whether the opinion in Linton could have done more to ensure that the unique harms experienced by patients because of their race would be fully addressed in the remedial plan.