This seems like something that is going to get overturned:
Yesterday, a Washington state court struck down a Seattle law that requires landlords to accept all “qualified” tenants on a first-come-first-serve basis. Once the landlord set minimum qualifications that all tenants must meet, he or she is forbidden to discriminate between them on any basis, or to reject the next tenant in line, so long as the unit in question is vacant. Judge Suzanne Parisien ruled that the law violates the Washington state constitution because it takes property without compensation, and also effects a taking for an unconstitutional “private use.” The purpose of the law is to combat “implicit bias” by landlords. For reasons I discussed here, it is likely to harm potential tenants more than it benefits them.
And probably because of this bit:
One important issue that Judge Parisien’s opinion does not address is how this case differs from ordinary anti-discrimination laws, such as those that bar landlords from discriminating on the basis of the tenants’ race, sex, or religion.
This case was apparently decided under the state constitution, so I’m not at all qualified to talk about whether the judge got her reasoning right on that part. But the practical implication of this ruling could open the door to “ordinary anti-discrimination” claims.