Full opinion text
MEMORANDUM AND ORDER ANITA B. BRODY, District Judge. TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION...............................................................975 BACKGROUND................................................................979 I.STANDARD FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT.................................981 II.42 U.S.C. § 1983 ...........................................................982 A. EQUAL PROTECTION................................................982 1. Legal Standard....................................................982 2. The Barnes’s Evidence.............................................985 a. The Defendants’ Reaction to the Barnes’s November 9, 1995Letter...................................................987 b. Picketing at the Reopening Gala Events.........................988 c. The Comments of Residential Neighbor Robert Mormon at theCommissioners’ Public Meeting Held on November 15, 1995.........................................................989 d. The Township’s Relations with Residents in Ardmore.............990 e. Comments About Discrimination in Ardmore.....................995 i. Commissioner Manko’s Alleged Statement....................995 ii. Ann Hutchinson’s Memo....................................998 f. Conclusion ....................................................999 B. DUE PROCESS.......................................................999 C. FIRST AMENDMENT................................................1002 III. 42 U.S.C. § 1985(3)........................................................1004 IV. 42 U.S.C. § 1981 ..........................................................1005 CONCLUSION................................................................1005 APPENDIX......................... 1005 a. The Barnes’s On-Site Parking Lot.....................................1006 i. Off-Site Parking Plan........................!...................1006 ii. Zoning Hearing Board Approval of the Barnes’s On-Site Parking Lot............................................................1007 b. The Final Stages of Renovations in Autumn 1995........................1009 i. Building Inspections.............................................1009 ii. The Stop Work Order................. 1010 iii. Final Inspections and Panic Hardware ............................1010 iv. The Barnes’s Temporary Tent.....................................1013 c. November 1995: The Reopening Gala Events the November 15 Commissioners’Meeting, and Temporary Parking Permission..............1013 i. Township Manager Latshaw’s November 9,1995 Letter..............1013 ii. The November 9,1995 Meeting.....................................1015 iii. Traffic Plans for the Reopening Gala Events .......................1016 iv. The November 15, 1995 Commissioners’ Meeting and the Resolution ...........................................................1016 v. The November 30, 1995 Meeting...................................1017 vi. Temporary Parking Permission...................................1017 d. The December 1995 and August 1996 Zoning Citations...................1018 INTRODUCTION Plaintiff the Barnes Foundation (the “Barnes”) brought this action against Defendants the Township of Lower Merion (the “Township”), the Lower Merion Board of Commissioners, Gloria P. Wolek, Frank Lutz, Kenneth E. Davis, Phyllis L. Zemble, Ora R. Pierce, James J. Prendergast, Alan C. Kessler, Brian D. Rosenthal, Joseph M. Man-ko, Howard L. West, W. Bruce McConnel III, James S. Ettelson, and David A. Sonen-shein (the “Commissioners”) under 42 U.S.C. §§ 1983 and 1985(3) for violations of the Equal Protection and Due Process Clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution. The crux of the Barnes’s claim is that the Township and its Board of Commissioners enforced zoning, parking, police, and fire code regulations in a discriminatory manner against the Barnes because of their racial bias toward three of its Trustees who are African American. The Township and the Commissioners (collectively the “Defendants”) now move for summary judgment under Rule 56 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure because they assert that the Barnes does not have any evidence to present at trial that would show that they discriminated against it. My inquiry in deciding the Defendants’ motions for summary judgment is a narrow one. I am not being called upon to decide the truth of either side’s story or to determine what the facts are, for those are the functions of the jury. Rather, under the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, my task in deciding these motions for summary judgment is to focus solely on the evidence supporting the Barnes’s case and to determine whether it is sufficient to require a trial. This task requires me to resolve two questions, the first being whether the evidence supporting the Barnes’s case would be admissible at trial under the Federal Rules of Evidence, and the second being whether, assuming that all of the Barnes’s admissible evidence were true, that evidence would be legally sufficient to allow a jury to conclude that the Defendants had deprived the Barnes of its rights under either the Equal Protection Clause or the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. See Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(c); Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 248-50, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 2510-11, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986); Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 322, 106 S.Ct. 2548, 2552, 91 L.Ed.2d 265 (1986). If the evidence supporting the Barnes’s case were insufficient to allow a jury to make that conclusion, a trial would be unnecessary and the Defendants would be entitled to summary judgment. After a careful examination of the evidence supporting the Barnes’s case, I have concluded that the Barnes has not met its burden here. As stated before, the Barnes is claiming violations of the Equal Protection and Due Process Clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution. The law is clear as to what the Barnes would have to prove at trial. Under well-settled Supreme Court doctrine, in order to show that the Township and the Commissioners violated the Equal Protection Clause when they applied their zoning, parking, police, and fire code regulations to the Barnes — regulations that on their face apply to all citizens regardless of race — -the Barnes would have to show that the Township .and Commissioners in fact applied these facially neutral regulations on the basis of race. See Washington v. Davis, 426 U.S. 229, 239-42, 96 S.Ct. 2040, 2047-49, 48 L.Ed.2d 597 (1976); Village of Arlington Heights v. Metropolitan Hons. Dev. Corp., 429 U.S. 252, 265-66, 97 S.Ct. 555, 563-64, 50 L.Ed.2d 450 (1977); Yick Wo v. Hopkins, 118 U.S. 356, 373-74, 6 S.Ct. 1064, 1072-73, 30 L.Ed. 220 (1886). In order to show that the Defendants applied these regulations on the basis of race, the Barnes would have to show, first, that the Defendants treated it differently than similarly situated institutions, and second, that they did so with the deliberate purpose or intent to discriminate against the Barnes because of the race of its Trustees. See Washington v. Davis, 426 U.S. at 239-42, 96 S.Ct. at 2047—49; Arlington Heights, 429 U.S. at 265, 97 S.Ct. at 563; Personnel Adm’r v. Feeney, 442 U.S. 256, 272, 99 S.Ct. 2282, 2292-93, 60 L.Ed.2d 870 (1979). Furthermore, in order to show that the Defendants acted with the deliberate purpose to discriminate on the basis of race, the Barnes would have to show that the Defendants “selected or reaffirmed a particular course of action at least in part ‘because of,’ not merely ‘in spite of,”’ the adverse effects it would have on institutions governed by African Americans, including the Barnes. See Personnel Adm’r v. Feeney, 442 U.S. at 279, 99 S.Ct. at 2296. Thus, in order to meet its burden under the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure to avoid summary judgment, the Barnes would have to show that it could produce admissible evidence at trial sufficient to allow the jury to conclude that the Defendants purposefully singled it out for differential treatment because three of its Trustees are African American. The Barnes’s burden under the Due Process Clause is similar to its burden under the Equal Protection Clause. In order to show that the Defendants violated the Due Process Clause when they applied their zoning, parking, police, and fire code regulations to the Barnes, the Barnes would have to show that the Defendants did not act in furtherance of any legitimate governmental purpose, but rather that they deliberately abused their power to discriminate against the Barnes because of the race of its Trustees. See Midnight Sessions, Ltd. v. City of Philadelphia, 945 F.2d 667, 683 (3d Cir.1991). Thus, as with the Equal Protection Clause, in order to avoid summary judgment, the Barnes would have to show that it could produce admissible evidence at trial sufficient to allow a jury to conclude that the Defendants undertook the actions they did toward the Barnes with a racially discriminatory purpose. The admissible evidence supporting the Barnes’s case fails to show that any of the Defendants’ conduct was motivated by a racially discriminatory purpose. The vast majority of the Barnes’s evidence has nothing to do with race, but rather only details various aspects of an ordinary zoning dispute, such as the fact that the Defendants required the Barnes to obtain approval for a proposed on-site parking lot from the Township’s Zoning Hearing Board or that the Barnes was cited for violating the Zoning Ordinance by changing its primary use from an educational institution to a museum. Moreover, what little evidence there is in the record that is even remotely related to race fails to show that any of the Defendants acted with a racially discriminatory purpose toward the Barnes. The most direct evidence the Barnes offers is that during a period of public comment in a meeting of the Township’s Board of Commissioners held in November 1995, in which nearly a dozen neighborhood residents spoke at some length, one of the speakers, who is not a defendant here, compared the President of the Barnes to a “carpetbagger.” Whatever this statement may reveal about the speaker’s own motivations, it does not show that the Defendants themselves were racially motivated in any of the actions they undertook. The Barnes also offers a hearsay statement that one of the Defendant Commissioners commented to a newspaper reporter that at some point during his eighteen years of service on the Township’s Board -of Commissioners, other board members had said “Let’s stick it to Ardmore because there are black people there.” Even if the Barnes could overcome the hearsay objections, which it cannot, the Barnes has not demonstrated any nexus whatsoever between this statement, taking it to be true as I must for this motion, and its allegations that the Defendants treated the Barnes differently because of the race of its Trustees. Nor has the Barnes demonstrated any nexus whatsoever between any of the other evidence that it presents, also taking it to be true as I must on a motion for summary judgment, and its allegations that the Defendants treated the Barnes differently because of race. Thus, the Barnes has not shown that it would be able to produce admissible evidence at trial sufficient to allow a jury to conclude that the Defendants undertook any of the actions they did with a racially discriminatory purpose, which is a necessary element of the Barnes’s case under both the Equal Protection and Due Process Clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment. Accordingly, as explained in greater detail below, a trial is unnecessary, and I will grant the Township’s and the Commissioners’ motions for summary judgment. BACKGROUND The Barnes Foundation is a corporation organized under the laws of Pennsylvania, with real estate located in the Township of Lower Merion, Pennsylvania, at 300 North Latches Lane. It was created in 1922 by Dr. Albert C. Barnes, who conveyed to the Foundation by an Indenture and Agreement both the real estate that it currently occupies and the extensive art collection that Dr. Barnes had acquired. Dr. Barnes provided in the Indenture that the purpose of the Foundation was “to promote the advancement of education and the appreciation of the fine arts.” The Barnes Foundation is governed by a Board of Trustees. During the time period relevant to this action, the Barnes was governed by four Trustees — Richard H. Glanton, Esquire, who is the elected President of the Board of Trustees, Niara Sudarkasa, Shirley A. Jackson, and Charles Frank. With the exception of Frank, all of the Barnes’s Trustees are African American. The Township of Lower Merion is a municipal corporation and a First Class Township, located adjacent to the City of Philadelphia. The Township is governed by an elected Board of Commissioners. During the time period relevant to this action, the Township was governed by fourteen Commissioners, who are all Defendants in this action. The current dispute stems from the operation and use of the Barnes’s art gallery. • By entry of a consent decree in 1960 between the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the Barnes, the Barnes’s art gallery was opened up for admission to the public two days per week, except during the months of July and August of each year. The art gallery was subsequently opened up to the public for an additional half-day per week following the death of Dr. Barnes’s wife. In 1993, the Foundation was closed to the public for the purpose of renovating the facility and the art gallery. The Foundation was reopened to the public approximately nineteen months later, in November 1995. It is the events surrounding this reopening that provide the source of controversy for this lawsuit. The Barnes filed a complaint in this Court on January 18, 1996 and an amended complaint on March 7, 1996, in which it alleged that the Township, the Commissioners, and seventeen of the Barnes’s residential neighbors generally deprived it and conspired to deprive it of its rights under the Equal Protection and Due Process Clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment. The Barnes alleged that as it was preparing to reopen the Foundation to the public in the fall of 1995, the Defendants applied their zoning, parking, police, and fire code regulations in a discriminatory manner against the Barnes because of the race of three of its Trustees. In particular, the Barnes alleged that the Defendants harassed the Barnes and its guests during its reopening celebratory events, that they required the Bames to obtain approval for an on-site parking lot from the Township’s Zoning Hearing Board, and that they issued a zoning citation to the Barnes. In its amended complaint, the Barnes also alleged that the Township and Commissioners brought a defamation action against the Trustees of the Barnes to retaliate against the Barnes for filing the instant action. On June 3, 1996, I denied the motions to dismiss filed by the Township and the Commissioners. By the same order, I granted the collective motion to dismiss filed by the seventeen Defendant neighbors on grounds of First Amendment immunity under the Noerr-Pennington doctrine. I also refused to abstain from adjudicating this matter under Younger v. Harris, 401 U.S. 37, 91 S.Ct. 746, 27 L.Ed.2d 669 (1971). On June 18, 1996, the Township and the Commissioners filed a joint Counterclaim for the tort of abuse of process. On December 30, 1996, I denied the Barnes’s motion to dismiss the Defendants’ counterclaim. On February 7, 1997, I denied the Barnes’s motions to amend its first amended complaint, with the exception of adding Commissioners Rocco Burdo and Louis Gould as Defendants to the extent that they would be subject in their official capacities to any prospective equitable relief that might be subsequently granted in this action. By a separate order on February 7, 1997, I granted the parties’ joint request for an extension of the discovery deadline until April 7, 1997, at which time discovery in this action was completed. On April 23, 1997, the Township and the Commissioners both filed motions for summary judgment. They also submitted a joint Statement of Undisputed Facts and a joint Appendix containing six large boxes of exhibits. On May 7, 1997, I denied the Barnes’s motion to defer ruling on the Defendants’ motions for summary judgment pending further discovery pursuant to Rule 56(f) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. On May 13, 1997, the Barnes filed a memorandum of law in opposition to the Defendants’ motions for summary judgment, and on May 15, 1997, the Barnes submitted a Statement of Material Facts Supported by Substantial Evidence. The Barnes also filed a large box of exhibits. Finally, on June 6, 1997, the Township and the Commissioners each filed a separate reply to the Barnes’s response, and the Township also submitted an additional large box worth of exhibits. On July 3, 1997,1 denied the Barnes’s motion for leave to file a surre-ply. The record is complete, and I am now ready to turn to a discussion of the materials the parties submitted in support of and in opposition to the Defendants’ motions for summary judgment. DISCUSSION I. STANDARD FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT Rule 56(c) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure provides that summary judgment is appropriate if “the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, and admissions on file, together with the affidavits, if any, show that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the moving party is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law.” Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(c). Rule 56(c) “mandates the entry of summary judgment, after adequate time for discovery and upon motion, against a party who fails to make a showing sufficient to establish the existence of an element essential to that party’s case, and on which that party will bear the burden of proof at trial.” Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 322, 106 S.Ct. 2548, 2552, 91 L.Ed.2d 265 (1986). The party moving for summary judgment “bears the initial responsibility of informing the district court of the basis for its motion, and identifying those portions of ‘the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, and admissions on file, together with the affidavits, if any,’ which it believes demonstrate the absence of a genuine issue of material fact.” Id. at 323, 106 S.Ct. at 2553. When the moving party does not bear the burden of persuasion at trial, as is the ease here, its burden “may be discharged by ‘showing’ — that is, pointing out to the district court — that there is an absence of evidence to support the nonmoving party’s case.” Id. at 325,106 S.Ct. at 2554. Once the moving party has filed a properly supported motion, the burden shifts to the nonmoving party to “set forth specific facts showing that there is a genuine issue for trial.” Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(e). The nonmoving party “may not rest upon the mere allegations or denials of the [nonmoving] party’s pleading,” id., but must support its response with affidavits, depositions, answers to interrogatories, or admissions on file. See Celotex, 477 U.S. at 324, 106 S.Ct. at 2553; Schoch v. First Fidelity Bancorporation, 912 F.2d 654, 657 (3d Cir.1990). Although the evidence presented on a motion for summary judgment does not have to be in admissible form, see Celotex, 477 U.S. at 324, 106 S.Ct. at 2553, Rule 56(e) requires the presentation of evidence “as would be admissible” at trial, see Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(e), and thus the evidence must be “reducible] to admissible evidence” at trial, see Celotex, 477 U.S. at 327, 106 S.Ct. at 2555. See, e.g., J.F. Feeser, Inc. v. Serv-A-Portion, Inc., 909 F.2d 1524, 1542 (3d Cir.1990); Williams v. Borough of West Chester, 891 F.2d 458, 466 n. 12 (3d Cir.1989) (Becker, J., opinion announcing the judgment of the court). Affidavits presented in support of and in opposition to a motion for summary judgment must “be made on personal knowledge,” must “set forth such facts as would be admissible in evidence,” and must “show affirmatively that the affiant is competent to testify to the matters stated therein.” Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(e); Hlinka v. Bethlehem Steel Corp., 863 F.2d 279, 282 (3d Cir.1988); Maldonado v. Ramirez, 757 F.2d 48, 50 (3d Cir.1985). See generally 10A Charles Alan Wright, Arthur R. Miller & Mary Kay Kane, Federal Practice and Procedure § 2738, at 486-95 (2d ed. 1983 & Supp.1997). To determine whether summary judgment is appropriate, I must determine whether any genuine issue of material fact exists. An issue is “material” only if the dispute “might affect the outcome of the suit under the governing law.” See Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 248, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 2510, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986). An issue is “genuine” only “if the evidence is such that a reasonable jury could return a verdict for the nonmoving party.” See id. The standard thus “mirrors the standard for a directed verdict under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 50(a).” Id. at 250, 106 S.Ct. at 2511. If the evidence favoring the nonmoving party is “merely colorable,” “not significantly probative,” or amounts to only a “scintilla,” summary judgment may be. granted. See id., at 249-50, 252, 106 S.Ct. at 2509-10, 2512; see also Matsushita Elec. Indus. Co. v. Zenith Radio Corp., 475 U.S. 574, 586, 106 S.Ct. 1348, 1356, 89 L.Ed.2d 538 (1986) (“When the moving party has earned its burden under Rule 56(c), its opponent must do more than simply show that there is some metaphysical doubt as to the material facts.” (footnote omitted)). Of course, “[e]redibility determinations, the weighing of the evidence, and the drawing of legitimate inferences from the facts are jury functions, not those of a judge.” Anderson, 477 U.S. at 255, 106 S.Ct. at 2513; see also Big Apple BMW, Inc. v. BMW of N. Am., Inc., 974 F.2d 1358, 1363 (3d Cir.1992). Moreover, the “evidence of the non-movant is to be believed, and all justifiable inferences are to be drawn in his favor.” Anderson, 477 U.S. at 255, 106 S.Ct. at 2513; see also Big Apple BMW, Inc., 974 F.2d at 1363. Thus, my inquiry at the summary judgment stage is only the “threshold inquiry of determining whether there is the need for a trial,” that is, “whether the evidence presents a sufficient disagreement to require submission to a jury or whether it is so one-sided that one party must prevail as a matter of law.” Anderson, 477 U.S. at 250-52, 106 S.Ct. at 2511-12. Although courts have sometimes expressed reluctance to grant motions for summary judgment in cases revolving around issues of intent, see, e.g., National Union Fire Ins. Co. v. Turtur, 892 F.2d 199, 205 (2d Cir.1989), they have nonetheless recognized their duty to grant summary judgment when the opposing party fails to proffer evidence sufficient to survive a motion for judgment as a matter of law at trial. See, e.g., Medina-Munoz v. R.J. Reynolds Tobacco, 896 F.2d 5, 8 (1st , Cir.1990) (“Even in cases where elusive concepts such as motive or intent are at issue, summary judgment may be appropriate if the nonmoving party rests merely upon con-clusory allegations, improbable inferences, and unsupported speculation.”). As the Supreme Court explained in Celo-tex, the “[sjummary judgment procedure is properly regarded not as a disfavored procedural shortcut, but rather as an integral part of the Federal Rules as a whole, which are designed ‘to secure the just, speedy and inexpensive determination of every action.’ ” Celotex, 477 U.S. at 327, 106 S.Ct. at 2555 (quoting Fed.R.Civ.P. 1). Furthermore, “[rjule 56 must be construed with due regard not only for the rights of persons asserting claims and defenses that are adequately based in fact to have those claims and defenses tried to a jury, but also for the rights of persons opposing such claims and defenses to demonstrate in the manner provided by the Rule, prior to trial, that the claims and defenses have no factual basis.” Id. II. 42 U.S.C. § 1983 Section 1983 of Title 42 of the United States Code provides: Every person who, under color of any statute, ordinance, regulation, custom, or usage, of any State ..., subjects, or causes to be subjected, any citizen of the United States ... to the deprivation of any rights, privileges, or immunities secured by the Constitution and laws, shall be liable to the party injured in an action at law, suit in equity, or other proper proceeding for redress .... 42 U.S.C.A. § 1983 (West Supp.1997). In order to bring a successful § 1983 claim, a plaintiff must demonstrate (1) that the challenged conduct was committed by a person acting under color of state law, and (2) that the conduct deprived the plaintiff of a right, privilege, or immunity secured by the Constitution or federal law. See Parratt v. Taylor, 451 U.S. 527, 535, 101 S.Ct. 1908,1912-13, 68 L.Ed.2d 420 (1981); Piecknick v. Pennsylvania, 36 F.3d 1250, 1255-56 (3d Cir.1994); Carter v. City of Phila., 989 F.2d 117, 119 (3d Cir.1993). The Township and Commissioners do not contest that the challenged actions were taken under color of state law. They do contest the Barnes’s claim that the challenged actions deprived the Barnes of its rights under the Equal Protection and Due Process Clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment. I will discuss these asserted deprivations in turn below. A. EQUAL PROTECTION 1. Legal Standard The Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution provides that “[n]o State shall ... deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.” U.S. Const, amend. XIV, § 1. The Equal Protection Clause announces the “fundamental principle” that “the State must govern impartially,” New York City Transit Auth. v. Beazer, 440 U.S. 568, 587, 99 S.Ct. 1355, 1367, 59 L.Ed.2d 587 (1979), and “is essentially a direction that all persons similarly situated should be treated alike.” City of Cleburne v. Cleburne Living Ctr., 473 U.S. 432, 439, 105 S.Ct. 3249, 3254, 87 L.Ed.2d 313 (1985). State governments generally possess the initial discretion to determine what in fact “is ‘different’ and what is the ‘same,’” and enjoy “substantial latitude to establish classifications that roughly approximate the nature of the problem perceived, that accommodate competing concerns both public and private, and that account for limitations on the practical ability of the State to remedy every ill.” Plyler v. Doe, 457 U.S. 202, 216, 102 S.Ct. 2382, 2394, 72 L.Ed.2d 786 (1982). In most areas of social and economic regulation, the Equal Protection Clause requires “only the assurance that the classification at issue bears some fair relationship to a legitimate public purpose,” id., and “the Constitution presumes that even improvident decisions will eventually be rectified by the democratic processes,” Cleburne, 473 U.S. at 440, 105 S.Ct. at 3254. Thus, the “general rule” is that state legislation or other official action “is presumed to be valid and will be sustained if the classification drawn by the statute is rationally related to a legitimate state interest.” Id.; see also Federal Communications Comm’n v. Beach Communications, Inc., 508 U.S. 307, 313, 113 S.Ct. 2096, 2101, 124 L.Ed.2d 211 (1993) (“In areas of social or economic policy, a statutory classification that neither proceeds along suspect lines nor infringes fundamental constitutional rights must be upheld against equal protection challenge if there is any reasonably conceivable state of facts that could provide a rational basis for the classification.”). This general rule “gives way, however, when a statute classifies by race, alienage, or national origin.” Cleburne, 473 U.S. at 440.105 S.Ct. at 3254. These factors “are so seldom relevant to the achievement of any legitimate state interest that laws grounded in such considerations are deemed to reflect prejudice and antipathy.” Id.; see also Plyler v. Doe, 457 U.S. at 216 n. 14, 102 S.Ct. at 2394 n. 14 (explaining that “suspect” classifications “are more likely than others to reflect deep-seated prejudice” and “tend to be irrelevant to any proper legislative goal”). Both “[f]or these reasons and because such discrimination is unlikely to be soon rectified by legislative means, these laws are subjected to strict scrutiny and will be sustained only if they are suitably tailored to serve a compelling state interest.” Cleburne, 473 U.S. at 440, 105 S.Ct. at 3254. When official action taken pursuant to a facially neutral law is challenged under the Equal Protection Clause, rational basis scrutiny will apply unless the plaintiff can show that the law was enacted as a proxy for race or was applied on the basis of race, which would then trigger strict scrutiny. To show that the law was enacted or applied on the basis of race, the plaintiff must show that the defendant acted with the purpose or intent to discriminate on the basis of race. See Washington v. Davis, 426 U.S. 229, 239-42, 96 S.Ct. 2040, 2047-49, 48 L.Ed.2d 597 (1976); Village of Arlington Heights v. Metropolitan Hous. Dev. Corp., 429 U.S. 252, 265, 97 S.Ct. 555, 563, 50 L.Ed.2d 450 (1977); Personnel Adm’r v. Feeney, 442 U.S. 256, 272, 99 S.Ct. 2282, 2292-93, 60 L.Ed.2d 870 (1979). The United States Supreme Court in Washington v. Davis, 426 U.S. 229, 96 S.Ct. 2040, 48 L.Ed.2d 597 (1976), rejected the notion that official action could violate the Equal Protection Clause simply by virtue of its racially disproportionate impact, and it instead made clear the “basic equal protection principle” that “the invidious quality of a law claimed to be racially discriminatory must ultimately be traced to a racially discriminatory purpose.” See id. at 240, 96 S.Ct. at 2048. Thus, the Washington v. Davis Court upheld a police department’s adoption-of a job-related employment test, despite generally higher failure rates experienced by African American applicants, because the plaintiffs had not demonstrated that the defendants adopted the test as a “purposeful device to discriminate” against African American applicants. See id. at 246, 96 S.Ct. at 2051. The Supreme Court further clarified the meaning of discriminatory “intent” or “purpose” in Personnel Adm’r v. Feeney, 442 U.S. 256, 99 S.Ct. 2282, 60 L.Ed.2d 870 (1979), a case in which the plaintiff challenged a preferential hiring policy for Massachusetts civil service positions that favored veterans over nonveterans. The plaintiff in Feeney contended that even if the hiring policy had not been enacted with the purposeful desire to disadvantage women, the legislature had still acted with the requisite discriminatory intent for purposes of the Equal Protection Clause because the legislature was aware of the inevitable disproportionate impact the hiring policy would have on women, given that the overwhelming number of veterans in Massachusetts were men. See id. at 278, 99 S.Ct. at 2295-96. The Supreme Court rejected this argument. The Court acknowledged that the law often employs a presumption that a person intends all of the natural and foreseeable consequences of his voluntary actions, but it concluded that “discriminatory purpose” for purposes of the Equal Protection Clause “implies more than intent as volition or intent as awareness of consequences.” Id. at 278-79, 99 S.Ct. at 2296. Rather, “discriminatory purpose” “implies that the decisionmaker ... selected or reaffirmed a particular course of action at least in part ‘because of,’ not merely ‘in spite of,’ its adverse effects upon an identifiable group.” Id. at 279, 99 S.Ct. at 2296; accord McCleskey v. Kemp, 481 U.S. 279, 298, 107 S.Ct. 1756, 1770, 95 L.Ed.2d 262 (1987). Applying this higher standard of intent, the Court found no evidence in the record before it of any purpose to discriminate on the basis of sex, and thus the Court upheld Massachusetts’s veterans’ hiring preference against the plaintiff’s Equal Protection challenge. See Feeney, 442 U.S. at 279-80, 99 S.Ct. at 2296-97. The Supreme Court thus made clear in Washington v. Davis and Personnel Adm’r v. Feeney that in order to establish an Equal Protection violation, a plaintiff must prove that the defendant undertook the challenged action with a racially discriminatory purpose, which requires proof that the defendant acted at least in part because of the plaintiff’s race. In Village of Arlington Heights v. Metropolitan Hous. Dev. Corp., 429 U.S. 252, 97 S.Ct. 555, 50 L.Ed.2d 450 (1977), the Supreme Court described the methods of proof by which a plaintiff can prove this requisite discriminatory purpose for an Equal Protection challenge to the application of a facially neutral law. The Court began its discussion of proof in Arlington Heights by stating that “[determining whether invidious discriminatory purpose was a motivating factor demands a sensitive inquiry into such circumstantial and direct evidence of intent as may be available.” See id. at 266, 97 S.Ct. at 564. The Court observed that the “impact of the official action ... may provide an important starting point.” Id. As the Court had explained earlier in Washington v. Davis, discriminatory purpose “may often be inferred from the totality of the relevant facts, including the fact, if it is true, that the law bears more heavily on one race than another.” See Washington v. Davis, 426 U.S. at 242, 96 S.Ct. at 2048-49. The Court made clear in its statements in Arlington Heights, however, that when the challenged action can be explained on grounds other than race, then proof of “impact alone is not determinative,” and the plaintiff must adduce additional direct or circumstantial evidence from which a discriminatory purpose can be inferred. See Arlington Heights, 429 U.S. at 266, 97 S.Ct. at 564. Evidence that could potentially demonstrate a discriminatory purpose includes the “historical background of the decision ..., particularly if it reveals a series of official actions taken for invidious purposes.” Id. at 267, 97 S.Ct. at 564. Also, the “specific sequence of events leading up to the challenged decision ... may shed some light on the decisionmaker’s purposes.” Id. Furthermore, “[d]epartures from the normal procedural sequence ... might afford evidence that improper purposes are playing a role,” and “[s]ubstantive departures too may be relevant, particularly if the factors usually considered important by the decisionmaker strongly favor a decision contrary to the one reached.” Id., Additionally, the legislative or administrative history could provide evi-. dence, “especially where there are contemporary statements by members of the decision-making body, minutes of its meetings, or reports.” Id. at 268, 97 S.Ct. at 565. Finally, the Court concluded by explaining that its survey of potential evidentiary sources was not “exhaustive,” but that the listed sources were “subjects of proper inquiry in determining whether racially discriminatory intent existed.” Id. As the foregoing discussion demonstrates, then, the crucial inquiry here under the Equal Protection Clause is whether the Defendants treated the Barnes differently than it treats (or would treat) similarly situated institutions that are not governed by African Americans, and if they did, whether the Defendants did so specifically because three of the Barnes’s Trustees are African American. Furthermore, in order to prove that the Defendants harbored such a racially discriminatory purpose, the Barnes must show more than that the Defendants’ application of their regulatory authority had a racially disproportionate impact, unless that impact is so “stark” as to be “unexplainable on grounds other than race.” See id. at 266, 97 S.Ct. at 563. Because the Defendants’ challenged actions here are explainable on grounds other than race, namely that they were undertaken to achieve the Defendants’ asserted objectives of preserving the health, safety, and welfare of the residential neighborhood in which the Barnes is located, it is not enough for the Barnes simply to show that it was treated differently than similarly situated institutions that are not governed by African Americans. Rather, the Barnes must adduce additional direct or circumstantial evidence from which a racially discriminatory purpose can be inferred. See id., As explained in Arlington Heights, this additional evidence could consist of evidence of the historical background of the challenged decisions, the specific sequence of events leading up to the challenged decisions, departures from the procedural sequences or substantive criteria ordinarily applied in the type of decisions at issue, and the legislative or administrative history of the challenged decisions. See id. at 267-68, 97 S.Ct. at 564-65. Having identified the governing legal standards, I will now turn to a discussion of the Defendants’ motions for summary judgment and the evidence the Barnes offers in opposition to these motions. 2. The Barnes’s Evidence Both the Township and the Commissioners moved for summary judgment under Rule 56, asserting that the Barnes does not have sufficient evidence to support its case under either the Equal Protection Clause or the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. As the Supreme Court explained in Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 106 S.Ct. 2548, 91 L.Ed.2d 265 (1986), the party moving for summary judgment “bears the initial responsibility of informing the district court of the basis for its motion.” See id. at 323, 106 S.Ct. at 2553. If the moving party does not bear the burden of persuasion at trial, as is the ease here with respect to both the Township and the Commissioners, the moving party may meet its burden under Rule 56 by “ ‘showing’ — that is, pointing out to the district court — that there is an absence of evidence to support the nonmoving party’s case.” See id. at 325, 106 S.Ct. at 2554. Accompanying their motions for summary judgment, the Township and Commissioners submitted memoranda of law spanning 51 and 76 pages respectively, a joint 54-page Statement of Undisputed Facts, and a joint appendix that takes six large boxes to house and that contains literally tens of thousands of pages of documents, depositions, and answers to interrogatories. In their memoranda of law, the Defendants point to the deposition testimony of numerous witnesses, both for the Defendants and for the Barnes, in which the witnesses testify that they have no knowledge of any race-based actions taken by the Defendants toward the Barnes, that the Barnes was treated no differently than its institutional neighbors, and that the Defendants were acting only for the purposes of resolving the dispute between the Barnes and its residential neighbors and of preserving the health, safety, and welfare of the residential neighborhood in which the Barnes is located. Given this record, I conclude that the Defendants have met their initial burden of “informing the district court of the basis” for their motions. Cf Wisniewski v. Johns-Manville Corp., 812 F.2d 81, 84 (3d Cir.1987) (concluding that asbestos manufacturers in consolidated appeals had properly supported their motions for summary judgment under Celotex by submitting 200 and 300 pages, respectively, worth of exhibits and affidavits and by pointing out the absence of supporting evidence for the plaintiffs’ intentional tort claims). Because the Defendants have met their initial burden under Rule 56, the burden now shifts to the Barnes to “set forth specific facts showing there is a genuine issue for trial.” See Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(e). An issue is “genuine” only “if the evidence is such that a reasonable jury could return a verdict for the nonmoving party.” See Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 248, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 2510, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986). Thus, in reviewing the Barnes’s evidence, I must determine whether the Barnes has offered admissible evidence that would allow a jury to return a verdict in its favor, which pursuant to the Equal Protection Clause would mean that the Barnes’s evidence would be sufficient to allow a jury to conclude that the Defendants treated it differently than similarly situated institutions and that they did so because three of its Trustees are African American. Moreover, in determining what evidence would be legally sufficient to allow a jury to draw this conclusion, I must keep in mind that proof of racially disproportionate impact — that is, proof that the Barnes had been treated differently than similarly situated institutions not governed by African Americans — would not be enough, standing alone, to support the inference of purposeful discrimination, because the Defendants’ actions are explainable on grounds other than race. See Village of Arlington Heights v. Metropolitan Hous. Dev. Corp., 429 U.S. 252, 266, 97 S.Ct. 555, 563-64, 50 L.Ed.2d 450 (1977). Thus, in determining whether the Barnes’s evidence is sufficient to allow a jury to conclude that the Defendants intentionally discriminated against the Barnes on the basis of race, I must determine whether the Barnes has adduced additional circumstantial evidence, beyond evidence of the simple fact of differential treatment itself, from which a jury could reasonably infer that the Defendants’ actions were actually motivated by a racially discriminatory purpose. See id., Turning then, to the evidence the Barnes has offered in opposition to the Defendants’ motions for summary judgment, the Barnes submitted a document entitled “Statement of Material Facts Supported by Substantial Evidence,” in which it sets forth an enormous amount of alleged facts that it contends require a trial. After a searching review of the evidence the Barnes adduced in support of these allegations, I have concluded that the Barnes has produced no evidence whatsoever that any of the Defendants’ actions were motivated by a racially discriminatory purpose. Indeed, the vast majority of the Barnes’s evidence has nothing to do with race, but merely details various stages of a run of the mill land dispute. If this evidence were enough to make out a constitutional violation, then municipalities would face a civil rights trial every time an aggressive developer loses a battle in a zoning dispute. I will canvass this evidence in an appendix to this memorandum. In the body of this memorandum, I will discuss the few pieces of evidence proffered by the Barnes that are even arguably related to race. This evidence consists of the following: (1) that Commissioner Zemble referred to a letter written by the Barnes’s President as “rude”; (2) that unidentified protesters picketed the Barnes with signs displaying the messages “From LA ■ to PA Money Buys Justice” and “Lincoln University Go Home”; (3) that one of the Barnes’s residential neighbors who spoke at a public meeting of the Commissioners compared the Barnes’s President to a “carpetbagger”; (4) that the Defendants granted a zoning concession to an ambulance company that wanted to locate in a section of South Ardmore populated predominantly by African American residents; (5) a hearsay statement that Commissioner Manko allegedly commented to a news reporter that at some point during his eighteen years of service on the Township's Board of Commissioners, other board members had said “Let’s stick it to Ardmore because there are black people there”; and (6) that a Township official wrote a memorandum about Ardmore in which she stated that she did not “wish to see these responses used to defend discriminatory, or the perception of discriminatory practices.” These items represent the strongest evidence the Barnes has to support its civil rights claim, but even these fail to create a genuine issue of material fact. As I will analyze below, none of this evidence demonstrates that any of the Defendants acted with a racially discriminatory purpose. a. The Defendants’ Reaction to the Barnes’s November 9, 1995 Letter The Barnes contends that Commissioner Zemble used several “words directly tied to racially derrogatory [sic] attitudes” when asked in a deposition about a letter that the Barnes’s President, Richard Glanton, wrote on November 9, 1995 to the Township on behalf of the Barnes. (SMF, ¶ 262.) The Barnes focuses on the words “arrogant” and “rude” and on the statements that Glanton did not do things “the way business is done in Lower Merion Township” and that the November 9, 1995 letter was “not the way the Township expects to hear from an institution.” (SMF, ¶ 262.) With the exception of the word “rude,” however, all of these words and statements were supplied by the Barnes’s counsel in Zemble’s deposition. (Defs.’ Ex. 68.3, at 383-86.) Thus, it was plaintiff’s counsel who asked Zemble whether the November 9, 1995 letter was “an arrogant letter?”, to which she replied “[y]es”; it was plaintiff’s counsel who asked Zemble whether she thought the letter was “[n]ot the way the Township expects to hear from an institution?”, to which she replied “[n]o”; and it was plaintiff’s counsel who asked “[i]t is not the way business is done in Lower Merion Township; is it?”, to which Zemble never even responded because her attorney interrupted the questioning and plaintiff’s counsel never returned to the pending question for an answer. (Defs.’ Ex. 68.3, 383-85.) Thus, the Barnes seeks to show that Zemble expressed racial animus toward Glanton on the basis of specific words and phrases that its counsel put in her mouth. This evidence does not create a geniiine issue of material fact. It is true that Zemble testified that she found the November 9, 1995 letter “bullying” and “rude,” (Defs.’ Ex. 68.3, at 383-84), which the Barnes would have its experts testify are racially derogatory words. (Pl.’s Ex. 4; PL’s Ex. 5.) Certainly, if “bullying” or “rude” is used to convey the attitude that African Americans should not be challenging white society, then the words “bullying” and “rude” thereby assume a racially derogatory meaning. But neither word has an exclusive or even predominantly racial meaning, and the Barnes has not pointed to any evidence other than the very words themselves to show that Zemble intended to convey a racially derogatory meaning when she used those words. The mere fact that these words were employed to describe a letter authored by an African American does not show that they were aimed at the race of the author rather than the contents of the letter. Accordingly, this evidence does not create a genuine issue of material fact. b. Picketing at the Reopening Gala Events The Barnes also claims that on November 10 and 11, 1995, during the Barnes’s Reopening Gala Events, some of the Barnes’s residential neighbors were seen standing next to picketers holding signs displaying the messages “From LA to PA Money Buys Justice” and “Lincoln University Go Home.” The Barnes offers this evidence to show that the Defendants were aware that the Barnes’s residential neighbors did not oppose the Barnes out of any legitimate concerns about the quality of their neighborhood, but rather out of racial animus toward the Barnes’s Trustees and Lincoln University. Although it would be a matter of some concern if the Barnes could show that the Defendants believed that most of the neighbors who were voicing complaints about the Barnes’s reopening were seeking action in order to further racially motivated objectives, the Barnes has not demonstrated any connection between the neighbors and the picketers here. Although the Barnes does not offer admissible evidence showing that the picketing events actually occurred, the Barnes does offer evidence that Commissioners Wolek and Ettelson were aware at some point that the Philadelphia Inquirer had printed a story reporting that the picketing events had occurred. (Defs.’ Ex. 16.2, at 566; Defs.’ Ex. 67.1, at 135.) The Barnes does not offer any evidence, however, that the Barnes’s residential neighbors were seen standing with the picketers or that the Defendants believed the neighbors had done so. The article itself only identifies the sign-holders as “protesters” and provides no further information about who they were or who was seen standing in proximity with them. (Pl.’s Ex. 128.) As for Commissioner Ettel-son’s awareness of the events, he testified that he thought he first learned of the picketing events by reading about them in the Philadelphia Inquirer article and that he did no investigation to verify whether the events were true. (Defs.’ Ex. 16.2, at 565.) Furthermore, he testified that it did not occur to him that the Barnes’s residential neighbors were involved with the pieketers, but rather that he thought the pieketers must have been some upset students. (Id.) Finally, he testified that he did not view the sign displaying the message “From LA to PA Money Buys Justice” as involving any racial connotation and that he did not know who was involved in the picketing. (Id. at 566-67.) Commissioner Wolek similarly testified that she learned of the picketing either by reading about it in the newspaper article , or by hearing it from someone else, that she did not think the signs had racial overtones, and that she did not know whether any of the Barnes’s residential neighbors were involved -in the picketing. (Defs.’ Ex. 67.1, at 133-36.) Even if the Barnes could show that the Commissioners must have recognized racial overtones in the signs, as it would have its expert James W. Loewen testify, (SMF, ¶¶ 241, 243), the Barnes has offered no evidence to show that any of the Barnes’s residential neighbors were involved in the picketing or that any of the Defendants believed they had been. Merely showing that the Defendants were aware that some individuals in the world view the Barnes with racial animus hardly shows that any of the Defendants’ conduct was motivated by racial animus. Accordingly, the Barnes’s evidence with respect to the pieketers does not create a genuine issue of material fact. c. The Comments of Residential Neighbor Robert Marmon at the Commissioners’ Public Meeting Held on November 15,1995 The Barnes points to statements made by Robert Marmon, one of the Barnes’s residential neighbors, at a public meeting held by the Commissioners on November 15, 1995. During that meeting, Marmon stated, among other things, that “[outsiders have taken over the Barnes,” that “Mr. Glanton and his people” had not been long-standing taxpayers in the community, and that he finally understood “what a carpetbagger is and how one operates.” (Pl.’s Ex. 123, at 10; Doc. #289, ¶256.) I will assume for present purposes that the trier of fact could reasonably infer that Mar-mon’s use of phrases like “carpetbagger” might have led the Commissioners to believe that Marmon was not motivated by wholly legitimate concerns. Even assuming this fact, however, this evidence does not show that the Commissioners undertook any of their challenged actions for the purpose of effectuating any racial animus. Eight other residential neighbors also spoke at some length during the November 15, 1995 meeting, as reflected in the minutes of the meeting, (Pl.’s Ex. 123, at 8-14), and the Barnes has not offered evidence that their comments, which generally discuss the impact the anticipated crowds and traffic would have on the safety and welfare of the neighborhood, conveyed racial animus toward the Barnes’s Trustees or Lincoln University. A jury could not reasonably conclude that the Commissioners undertook any of the challenged actions because of the race of the Barnes’s Trustees, rather than out of a concern for the neighborhood, based simply on the fact that a public meeting attracted one speaker who favored certain actions out of personal racial bias. Accordingly, this evidence does not create a genuine issue of material fact. d. The Township’s Relations with Residents in Ardmore The Barnes offers evidence of various interactions between the Defendants and individual residents living in South Ardmore and other Lower Merion neighborhoods, which it contends would show that the Township responds vigorously when white residents complain about intrusive land uses that benefit African American residents, but pays little attention when African American residents complain about intrusive land uses that benefit white residents. (Doc. # 323, at 1-9, 58-69; SMF, ¶¶ 2-3, 25 to 102-A, 360, 366-67.) The evidence the Barnes proffers in support of this claim does not show that the Defendants undertook any of their actions with respect to individual residents in Ardmore or other neighborhoods on the basis of race. Even if it had made such a showing, this evidence would not allow a jury to conclude that the Defendants had therefore also targeted the Barnes for unequal treatment because three of its Trustees are African American. Turning to the evidence the Barnes offers in support of its claim, even its strongest example, a zoning concession to an ambulance company (the Narberth Ambulance Corps) that wanted to locate in a South Ardmore neighborhood, fails to show that the Defendants ignored the complaints of African American residents in South Ardmore or that they undertook any of their .actions with a discriminatory purpose. To begin with, the Barnes characterizes the Narberth Ambulance Corps as a “white” organization, yet it offers no evidence of the organization’s racial composition aside from the testimony of Mary Jordan, president of the board of directors of the ambulance company, who stated that the organization had both white and African-American members. (Defs.’ Ex. 27.1, at 86-88.) Likewise, the Barnes does not offer any evidence of the racial composition of the neighbors who complained about the ambulance service, aside from what can be inferred from the fact that South Ardmore is predominately populated by African-American residents. (Pl.’s Ex. 15, at 39; Pl.’s Ex. 16, at 52.) As for the substance of its claim that the Defendants ignored the South Ardmore residents’ complaints about the proposed location of the Narberth Ambulance Corps, the Barnes offers evidence that the Corps requested the Township to waive certain zoning requirements so it could operate its business out of the property it purchased on Ardmore Avenue, that the Township staff held a meeting in January 1995 in which neighbors objected to the location of the ambulance company on Ardmore Avenue, that the Township later amended its zoning code in June 1995 to permit emergency services to operate in residential communities, that the Commissioners held a special meeting in January 1996 in which the neighbors again complained about the location of the ambulance company, and that the ambulance company ultimately relocated to another site. (Defs.’ Ex. 27.1, at 20-21; Pl.’s Ex. 161; Pl.’s Ex. 163, at 3; Pl.’s Ex. 159; Pl.’s Ex. 160; Pl.’s Ex. 16, at 121.). Although the Township did amend its zoning code to permit the location of emergency services in residential areas, which effectively removed one obstacle to the Narberth ambulance company’s use of the Ardmore Avenue site, the Barnes’s evidence also reveals that the Township did so only by establishing a public conditional use process in which the ambulance company would have to establish compliance with fifteen requirements. (Pl.’s Ex. 163, at 3; Pl.’s Ex. 167.) Thus, by amending its zoning code, the Township did not approve the Narberth ambulance company’s proposed use .of the Ardmore Avenue site, but rather only established a process by which the ambulance company could obtain approval if it successfully completed the conditional use process. Furthermore, the Barnes’s evidence shows that the Commissioners called the January 1996 meeting specifically for the purpose of listening to the South Ardmore residents’ concerns about their community, which included the proposed location of the Narberth ambulance company. (Pl.’s Ex. 159; Pl.’s Ex. 160.) The Barnes’s evidence also shows that following that meeting, Township Director of Planning & Community Development Ann Hutchinson wrote a memorandum to Township Manager David Latshaw in which she noted the community’s opposition to the Narberth ambulance company and emphasized that the ambulance company “carries the burden of demonstrating how they will comply with Township regulations” and that “[t]he public'is strongly encouraged to attend” the public meetings in which the company’s conditional use application would be considered. (Pl.’s Ex. 167.) Thus, although the Barnes’s evidence, viewed in the light most favorable to the Barnes, suggests that the Township granted the Narberth ambulance company a zoning concession despite knowledge of the neighbors’ opposition, the Barnes’s evidence also shows that this zoning concession had no immediate practical benefit because the Narberth ambulance company still had to complete the conditional use process, which the Township appeared ready to enforce vigorously in light of the community’s opposition. The Barnes’s evidence with respect to the other examples of the Defendants’ alleged differential responses to the complaints of white and African American residents does not merit extended discussion. Whereas the Barnes’s evidence with respect to the Nar-berth ambulance company at least suggests that a landowner obtained some form of desired zoning relief despite community opposition, the Barnes’s evidence with respect to the other examples of differential responses simply fails to support the Barnes’s claims. Even assuming arguendo that the Barnes had produced evidence to support its claim that the Township responds differently when African American residents complain about land uses than it does when white residents complain, this evidence would not create a genuine issue of material fact. The Barnes argues that discrimination against residents in South Ardmore would be circumstantial evidence under Village of Arlington Heights v. Metropolitan Hous. Dev. Corp., 429 U.S. 252, 97 S.Ct. 555, 50 L.Ed.2d 450 (1977), and “the Title VII jurisprudence” that the Township had likewise discriminated against the Barnes. (Doe. #323, at 59:) The Commissioners, by contrast, rely on Arlington Heights to support their position that such evidence is completely irrelevant to this action. (Doc. # 343, at 77, 81-84.) The Supreme Court’s opinion in Arlington Heights is not particularly enlightening with respect to either position, however, because the facts of that case did not involve evidence of the defendants’ discriminatory treatment of other developers or residents, nor did the Court’s discussion of circumstantial evidence touch on a defendant’s discrimination against others. Of the various types of circumstantial evidence discussed by the Court, the racial impact of the challenged decision, the specific sequence of events leading up to the decision, any procedural or substantive departures involved in the decision, and the legislative or administrative history surrounding the decision, see id. at 266-68, 97 S.Ct. at 563-65, all obviously involve aspects of. the challenged decision itself. The only other factor discussed by the Court, the historical background of the decision, might appear to encompass evidence of discrimination against others, particularly given the Court’s statement that such evidence would be especially probative “if it reveals a series of official actions taken for invidious purposes.” See id. at 267, 97 S.Ct. at 564. I do not believe that the Court understood its use of the term “historical background” to mean evidence of discrimination against others, however, because none of the cases cited by the Court in support of its statement involved considerations of evidence of discrimination against others. See Lane v. Wilson, 307 U.S. 268, 275-77, 59 S.Ct. 872, 876-77, 83 L.Ed. 1281 (1939) (assessing the validity of a voter qualification statute that exempted from its requirements all persons who had voted in the previous election, who, in turn, had been qualified to vote under the predecessor statute which effectively exempted all white voters from a literacy test through the operation of a “grandfa