II. STATE LAW
To date, five states--Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina, and Texas--do not have public accommodation statutes that prohibit discrimination on the basis of race. The rest of the states and D.C. have varying forms of public accommodation statutes relating to discrimination in retail stores. These statutes vary in coverage and detail, and can be separated into four categories: (1) those expressly including stores or retail establishments as ““places of public accommodation”; (2) those broad enough where retail stores should properly be covered; (3) those whose coverage is unclear, either by inclusion of contradictory language or omission of defining criteria; and (4) those who provide an exclusive list of places where retail stores are not mentioned.
Discrimination claims brought by black shoppers like Crystal Gregory and Michael Richmond would meet varying degrees of success, depending on the state in which they were brought. Almost every state has some form of prohibitory language that makes it unlawful to discriminate and deny citizens “the full enjoyment of any of the accommodations, facilities or privileges of any place of public resort, accommodation, assemblage or amusement.” Such language from the various state statutes offers broader protection against discrimination than federal law because unlike § 1981, state public accommodation laws do not require a contractual relationship. Thus, it does not matter whether the employees at Dillard's interfered with a contract, because interference with “the full enjoyment of any of the accommodations, facilities or privileges” is sufficient for a state claim.
