The WNBA and Caitlin Clark’s Civil Rights

Caitlin Clark has done for the Women’s National Basketball Association what Michael Jordan once did for the NBA—made it more valuable, watchable and marketable. Instead of protecting its transformative star, the league’s leadership ignores the relentless targeting of Ms. Clark, treating its greatest asset as if she were a PR headache. That approach could turn into a legal liability for the WNBA.

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Yet she routinely faces intentional hits, excessive fouling and uncalled abuse while referees look away. Teammate Sophie Cunningham said what fans already know: “The star player of the league is not being protected.” Ms. Clark herself noted: “Everybody is physical with me. They get away with things others don’t.” Three injuries have sidelined her for 10 games and the All-Star Game, with ratings plummeting 55% without her.

Is it because Ms. Clark is white? A’ja Wilson of the Las Vegas Aces, a three-time league most valuable player, thinks so. She has said that race is a “huge thing” and that “it boils my blood when people say it’s not about race because it is.” Under civil-rights law, race-motivated patterns trigger scrutiny even without explicit discriminatory intent.

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The league has fostered a hostile workplace for Ms. Clark through excessive fouling, targeting, and hostile comments from other players and owners. These aren’t isolated—they’re documented, continuing and ignored by officials. The disparity in treatment invites real scrutiny. Not a single player has been suspended for flagrantly fouling Ms. Clark.

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Ms. Clark faces a textbook hostile work environment, as the Supreme Court described in Harris v. Forklift Systems (1993), with severe or pervasive conduct altering her conditions. Statistical disparities like those she faces often prompt federal probes and lawsuits. The precedent is clear: In Texas Dept. of Community Affairs v. Burdine (1981), courts outlined disparate treatment under Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, letting employees allege less favorable treatment than peers due to race—warranting investigation without direct animus. That shifts the burden to the employer to prove nondiscriminatory motive.

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