Invidious discrimination is a legal term used to describe the act of treating a class of persons unequally in a manner that is malicious, hostile, or damaging. It refers to discrimination that is motivated by animus or ill will towards a particular group, rather than based on a legitimate, non-discriminatory reason.
Invidious discrimination is illegal under various federal and state laws, including Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits employment discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. Invidious discrimination can also take other forms, such as discrimination based on age, disability, sexual orientation, or gender identity.
The concept of invidious discrimination was seen in Brown v. Board of Education (1954), in which the United States Supreme Court declared that segregation in public schools was unconstitutional because it violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. The Court held that the doctrine of "separate but equal" was inherently unequal and that segregation was a form of invidious discrimination.
[Last updated in March of 2023 by the Wex Definitions Team]
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