01-1273 U.S. v. Barlow

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“And although statistics alone rarely establish an equal protection violation, they may be sufficient to establish the discriminatory effect prong of the Armstrong test. Chavez, 251 F.3d at 640. But such statistics must be relevant and reliable, id., and the ones Barlow provided were neither. Dr. Lamberth’s statistical conclusions rely heavily upon the fact that, in the ten days his investigators observed the Southwest Chief waiting area, law enforcement officials intercepted only two individuals-an African American couple. But the African American couple was approached by a uniformed Amtrak police officer whereas Barlow was approached by two plain-clothes DEA Transportation Task Force agents. Barlow leveled his allegations against the DEA, not Amtrak; observations of Amtrak’s law enforcement activities are irrelevant to a claim that the DEA engaged in racial profiling. Moreover, Dr. Lamberth’s investigators could provide no information as to why the Amtrak officer approached the African American couple; Barlow has not even established that the officer did so for a law enforcement purpose.”

Affirmed.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Zagel, J., Rovner, J.