An Illinois district court’s decision that federal preemption issues are not ripe may now prompt a federal district court in Washington, DC, to examine the broader issue of whether disparate impact is a valid claim under the Fair Housing Act. The Illinois lawsuit, Property Casualty Insurers Association of America v. U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, is one of two insurance-industry legal challenges to HUD’s disparate-impact rule. The second case was filed by two other trade groups, the American Insurance Association and the National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies, and is pending in federal court in the nation’s capital. According to the final rule that HUD adopted in February 2013, a practice has...