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123 Harv. L. Rev. F. 1 (2010-2011)

handle is hein.journals/forharoc123 and id is 1 raw text is: NOT ALL STATISTICS ARE CREATED EQUAL D. James Greiner* Replying to Steven L. Willborn & Ramona L. Paetzold, Statistics Is a Plural Word, 122 HARV. L. REV. F 48 (2009), http://www.harvardlaw review.org/media/pdf/willborn-paetzold.pdf. Dean Steven Willborn and Professor Ramona Paetzold have writ- ten a thought-provoking response' to my article, Causal Inference in Civil Rights Litigation (Causal Inference).2 There is much common ground among us: All proof of causation, including especially statistic- al proof in the civil rights litigation context, is messy, indirect, uncer- tain, and subject to varying interpretations.3 Any use of statistics is part art, part science,4 requires discretion and judgment' as well as complicated (and potentially controversial) choices,6 and relies on a host of underlying assumptions.' Direct evidence (assuming this term to be well defined in civil rights) of discrimination is rarely avail- able, and statistical proof should not be held to higher standards than nonstatistical proof.9 The conceptualization of discrimination should not be limited to conscious discrimination (again, to the extent that this term is well defined).'0 Dean Willborn and Professor Paetzold's Response, Statistics Is a Plural Word (Plural), thus makes clear the extent of our agreement. Plural also makes clear our disagreements, and in doing so, illus- trates many of the reasons why potential outcomes is a superior ap- proach to regression as the latter is currently used in civil rights litiga- tion. Statistics is a plural word, but not all statistics are created equal. Assistant Professor of Law, Harvard Law School. Ph.D., Department of Statistics, Harvard University, 2007; J.D., University of Michigan Law School, 1995. My sincere thanks to Jamie Lynn Dodge for providing feedback on this reply. As usual, all mistakes are my own. 1 Steven L. Willborn & Ramona L. Paetzold, Statistics Is a Plural Word, 122 HARV. L. REV. F. 48 (2009), http://www.harvardlawreview.org/media/pdf/willborn-paetzold.pdf. 2 D. James Greiner, Causal Inference in Civil Rights Litigation, 122 HARV. L. REV. 533 (2008). 3 Willborn & Paetzold, supra note i, at 48. 4 Id. at 56. 5 Id. at 55. 6 Id. at 5 i. 7 Id. at S6. 8 Id. at 59. 9 Id. at 6o. 1o Id. at 59 n.40. I

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