A homeowner in Sacramento, California, who has put her family home on the local real estate market is refusing to sell it to anyone who supports President Donald Trump.
Experts disagree over whether her approach is illegal. Some say that her stance, while obnoxious, may not be illegal because political preference is not one of the categories protected by anti-discrimination laws.
Local CBS News affiliate CBS 13 reports:
“I told her [the realtor] that I didn’t want her to sell it to a Trump supporter,” said the woman.
She wants a sale contingent upon how someone votes, but is that legal?
Attorney Allen Sawyer doesn’t believe so.
“That’s an unlawful contractual term that infringes the freedom of association and first amendment rights,” said Sawyer.
But that doesn’t prevent a seller from discussing this kind of request during a sale.
“We can ask somebody how they voted, but they don’t have to tell us,” said realtor Elizabeth Weintraub.
…
According to the Fair Housing Act, political party affiliation doesn’t fall into one of the seven protected classes. They include race, religion, color, disability. National origin, sex and familial status.
The home seller’s stance would exclude 2 out of every 5 prospective buyers, according to voting data.
(Read the rest of the CBS 13 report here.)
Earlier this month, the Washingtonian reported that conservatives in the nation’s capital city were finding it difficult to find dates because liberals excluded them when browsing online dating profiles.
“In a city as overwhelmingly Democratic as DC, the combination of lingering anger over Hillary Clinton‘s loss and President Trump‘s existence makes it tricky for conservatives to date across party lines,” the Washingtonian reported.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News. He was named to Forward’s 50 “most influential” Jews in 2017. He is the co-author of How Trump Won: The Inside Story of a Revolution, which is available from Regnery. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
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