Final answer:
Personnel Administrator of Massachusetts v. Feeney is a Supreme Court case that addressed gender discrimination in Massachusetts' veterans' preference in public employment. The Court ruled that the policy did not violate the Equal Protection Clause because it did not have discriminatory intent, despite its disproportionate impact on women.
Step-by-step explanation:
Personnel Administrator of Massachusetts v. Feeney is a landmark legal case that reached the United States Supreme Court. The case involved an issue of gender discrimination in the context of veterans' preference in public employment within the state of Massachusetts.
Specifically, the case challenged whether a veterans' preference policy, which disproportionately benefited men over women, violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. The Supreme Court ultimately ruled in 1979 that the Massachusetts law granting preferential treatment to veterans in public employment did not violate the Equal Protection Clause because the law was not enacted with the intent to discriminate against women.
The crux of the Court's decision was the distinction between discriminatory impact and discriminatory intent. Helen B. Feeney, the petitioner, argued that the preference for veterans effectively discriminated against women since the vast majority of veterans were men. However, the Court found that since the law was gender-neutral in its language and was intended to benefit all veterans for their service regardless of gender, it did not constitute intentional discrimination. As a result, the policy of giving preference to veterans in hiring remained lawful despite its disproportionate impact on women.