Cite as: 519 U. S. 102 (1996)
Thomas, J., dissenting
caps flowing from differences in economic circumstances.' " Id., at 362 (dissenting opinion) (footnote omitted).
Justice Harlan's views were accepted by the Court in Washington v. Davis, 426 U. S. 229 (1976), in which "[w]e rejected a disparate impact theory of the Equal Protection Clause altogether." Lewis v. Casey, supra, at 375 (concurring opinion). We spurned the claim that "a law, neutral on its face and serving ends otherwise within the power of government to pursue, is invalid under the Equal Protection Clause simply because it may affect a greater proportion of one race than of another." 426 U. S., at 242. Absent proof of discriminatory purpose, official action did not violate the Fourteenth Amendment "solely because it has a racially disparate impact." Id., at 239 (emphasis in original). Hearkening back to Justice Harlan's dissents in Griffin and Douglas, we recognized that
"[a] rule that a statute designed to serve neutral ends is nevertheless invalid, absent compelling justification, if in practice it benefits or burdens one race more than another would be far reaching and would raise serious questions about, and perhaps invalidate, a whole range of tax, welfare, public service, regulatory, and licensing statutes that may be more burdensome to the poor and to the average black than to the more affluent white." 426 U. S., at 248 (footnote omitted).
The lesson of Davis is that the Equal Protection Clause shields only against purposeful discrimination: A disparate impact, even upon members of a racial minority, the classification of which we have been most suspect, does not violate equal protection. The Clause is not a panacea for perceived social or economic inequity; it seeks to "guarante[e] equal laws, not equal results." Personnel Administrator of Mass. v. Feeney, 442 U. S. 256, 273 (1979).
Since Davis, we have regularly required more of an equal
protection claimant than a showing that state action has a
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