Racial covenants were common before a 1948 Supreme Court ruling made them unenforceable.
Removing them can be desirable against the possibility that the 1948 ruling is overturned.
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What is the likelihood of that 1948 ruling – Shelley v. Kraemer – being overturned? (I remember reading it as a 1L.) While I have read/heard about other SCOTUS precedent being revisited (mostly in the areas of privacy), I’ve not heard anything about going back and overturning Shelley v. Kraemer. Is it something that is on the Project 2025 wish list?
My immediate take on the article is that it is a solution in search of a problem.
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I’m not a civil rights lawyer, but here are my layperson’s thoughts on this issue. 1968 Federal Fair Housing Act made such covenants illegal and unenforceable. Chances that Congress will backpedal and reinstate the discrimination are slim (not zero, but extremely low). I’m all for removing these ugly covenants but not because they might be resurrected. Mainly because they are ugly and painful to see. Not a part of history one would want to preserve and keep attached to their property. The fact that these existed is enough.
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And many state and local laws override the covenants and some HUD lending regulations. I think we are safe.
Who lived in one of these areas? Nancy Pelosi. She grew up in Little Italy in Baltimore. Her father was the mayor. No one but Italians lived in Little Italy well into the 1970s. The realtors controlled who could see the houses by not listing them, just showing them privately.
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My house has such language in an old deed. How do I know? When I bought the 1910 house, I did the deed research and traced the property all the way back as far as I could go. Who else besides me (or a similar weirdo) would even do that?
Of all the things I have to spend my money on, all the things I need to spend my money on, not to mention things I want to spend my money on… I’ll let this one go.
But if it isn’t on your current deed (a Warranty Deed?) it’s probably gone. If there are weird things on a plat for a bigger area I’d be more worried (although not worried at all) about it. A title company won’t insure that provision anyway.
Who is going to sue you over it? No one.
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Yup. That’s what I figured
Mine too. And since discussion of such and the hypothetical ensuing lawsuits are more appropriate for the Politics Forum, I think there’s nothing left to say here.