In the case of Village of Arlington Heights v. Metropolitan Housing Development Corp., 1976, the U.S Supreme Court ruled on whether racially discriminatory intent was a necessary component to prove a violation of the Equal Protection Clause. The Metropolitan Housing Development Corporation (MHDC) had proposed building low-income housing in an area zoned for single-family homes and applied for rezoning, which was denied by Arlington Heights' village board. MHDC sued, alleging that this decision perpetuated racial segregation in violation of their constitutional rights. While acknowledging that zoning laws can sometimes be used as tools for discrimination, the court held that there must be proof beyond just disparate impact; plaintiffs must demonstrate discriminatory intent or purpose behind such decisions to establish a constitutional violation under Fourteenth Amendment's Equal Protection Clause. In this case, since no clear evidence showed any racial motivation behind denying MHDC’s application for rezoning by Arlington Heights’ authorities - even though it disproportionately affected minority groups - it did not constitute unconstitutional discrimination.

In the dissenting opinion for Village of Arlington Heights v. Metropolitan Housing Development Corp., Justice Thurgood Marshall argued that the majority's decision failed to fully consider the historical and social context of racial discrimination in housing policies. He contended that discriminatory intent should not be a necessary requirement to prove a violation of equal protection, as it is often difficult to establish clear evidence of such intent due to covert or unconscious biases. Instead, he proposed an effects-based test which would focus on whether a policy disproportionately impacts certain groups regardless of its intended purpose. Furthermore, he criticized the majority's reliance on precedent cases involving individual acts rather than systemic practices, arguing that this approach was inadequate for addressing complex issues like institutional racism in housing policies.