The Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, s-x or national origin. The judge should have just ruled: "Discrimination based on caste is NOT a Civil Rights violation". Case closed.
The system which divides Hindus into rigid hierarchical groups based on their karma (work) and dharma (the Hindi word for religion, but here it means duty) is generally accepted to be more than 3,000 years old.
For centuries, caste has dictated almost every aspect of Hindu religious and social life, with each group occupying a specific place in this complex hierarchy.
It is based on religion. And it's based on being from India, so the national origin question hinges on whether or not Indians were discriminated against vs. non-Indians or vice versa.
Try again.