(CNN) A federal appeals court delivered a surprising victory Wednesday to supporters of the Fight for $15 campaign when it ruled that a lawsuit challenging the abolishment of a minimum wage hike can go forward.

The 11th US Circuit Court of Appeals reversed a lower court's dismissal of the lawsuit, which charged that Alabama legislators acted with "racial animus" when they abolished an attempt by Birmingham's majority black government to raise the city's minimum wage in 2016.

The appeals court ruled that one of the lawsuit's complaints -- that Alabama lawmakers discriminated against the city's black citizens and violated their equal protection rights under the 14th Amendment -- can proceed. The court dismissed other claims in the lawsuit.

In its decision, the three-judge panel said the legislative process that abolished the minimum wage increase was "rushed, reactionary and racially polarized." It also rejected what it described as a lower court's claim that only the "clearest proof" of discrimination would justify a court overriding a legislature's intent.

Dunetra Merritt protests for higher wages in Memphis, Tennessee. Some Fight for $15 activists say their struggle is linked to the civil rights movement.

"Requiring the 'clearest proof' of discriminatory purpose not only ignores the history of equal protection law but also turns a blind eye to the realities of modern discrimination," the decision read. "Today, racism is no longer pledged from the portico of the capitol or exclaimed from the floor of the constitutional convention; it hides, abashed, cloaked beneath ostensibly neutral laws and legitimate bases, steering government power toward no less invidious ends."

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