The Paula Deen lawsuit took an interesting turn when her defense cited the recent Supreme Court rulings on same-sex marriage.
Paula Deen’s lawyers claim the DOMA and Prop 8 rulings are enough justification for throwing out the lawsuit completely.
The Supreme Court’s Proposition 8 ruling was decided solely on technical legal grounds since state officials in California’s executive branch declined to defend the law even though it was passed by a majority vote. According to the Supreme Court, this meant the case was invalid because the private citizens defending Proposition 8 were not entitled to defend the law even though it was passed by California’s own citizens. Since the Supreme Court was technically not allowed to see the case, this meant that a prior trial court decision in favor of gay marriage was left standing.
Lisa Jackson, the woman responsible for the Paula Deen lawsuit, is white and thus Paula Deen’s lawyers claim the Supreme Court’s ruling means she doesn’t have any legal right to claim racial discrimination . The logic goes that, since Lisa Jackson was not African American, she couldn’t have suffered “a personal and tangible harm” from hearing the “N-word” on the job.
But, as previously reported by The Inquisitr , Lisa Jackson claims the Paula Deen lawsuit isn’t about racism :
“This lawsuit has never been about the N-word,” Lisa Jackson said. “It is to address Ms. Deen’s patterns of disrespect and degradation of people that she deems to be inferior. I may be a white woman, but I could no longer tolerate her abuse of power as a business owner, nor her condonation of Mr. Hier’s despicable behavior on a day-to-day basis. I am what I am, and I am a human being that cares about all races, and that is why I feel it is important to be the voice for those who are too afraid to use theirs.”
But, while citing discrimination and harassment, Lisa Jackson previously claimed she was an “African-American adjacent” as part of the Paula Deen lawsuit . Paula Deen, for her part, admits using the N-word in the past but otherwise claims Lisa Jackson made up her work-based racism allegations as part of a harassment case.
Do you think the Paula Deen lawsuit should be thrown out by the judge?