Also known as: national origins
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
An attribute consisting of the country in which a person was born or from which the person's ancestors came.
Noah Nakamura testified in a contract dispute before Judge Morales. Defense counsel repeatedly asked whether people from Nakamura's home country commonly falsify documents. The judge overruled objections and directed counsel to continue the line of questioning.
Nalini Narula sought representation from an attorney for an employment claim. The attorney declined after learning Narula's ancestry and stated that clients from that background always exaggerate damages. The attorney later faced a grievance for the remark.
Select any source to read its text and confirm it supports the definition.
Nikhil Narayan appeared as a witness in a bench trial. Opposing counsel questioned Narayan about cultural practices in his country of birth and suggested those practices indicated dishonesty. The judge overruled objections and permitted the examination to proceed.
Judge Morales maintained membership in a private club that limited admission to persons whose families originated in specific European countries. A litigant filed a conduct complaint after discovering the membership during unrelated litigation.
A city enacted a zoning rule that effectively barred recent immigrants from certain countries from obtaining permits for group homes. The affected applicants challenged the ordinance as invidious discrimination.
A developer refused to sell lots to families whose surnames indicated South Asian ancestry. The excluded buyers sued under federal fair housing provisions after learning the pattern of rejections.
A judge must stop lawyers from using national origin stereotypes to harass or discredit parties or witnesses. References are permitted only when the trait itself is directly relevant to an element of the claim and is not presented through prejudicial generalizations.
Yes. Model Rule 8.4(g) prohibits lawyers from engaging in harassment or discrimination based on national origin during the practice of law. Framing credibility attacks around a party's country of origin crosses into prohibited conduct.
National origin classifications receive strict scrutiny because they are seldom relevant to legitimate state interests and reflect prejudice unlikely to be corrected through ordinary political processes.
Supporting sources
No. Judicial conduct rules forbid judges from holding membership in organizations that practice invidious discrimination on the basis of national origin.
The Act prohibits refusing to sell or rent, offering different terms, or publishing discriminatory advertisements on the basis of national origin, and these prohibitions apply even to certain exempt properties.
Supporting sources
…"employers," not defined to include the United States, from discriminating on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, or national origin). No more so than that this Court should have the exclusive power to pronounce the final decision on justiciable cases and controversies, even those pertaining to the constitutionality of a…