The U.S. Supreme Court declared on Monday that an employer who fires a worker merely for being gay or transgender violates the main federal job-discrimination law, in a decision with implications for school districts as employers and in legal battles over the rights of transgender students.
Justice Neil M. Gorsuch wrote the opinion for a 6-3 majority in (Case No. 17-1618) and two consolidated cases involving workers who alleged they were fired on the basis of being gay or transgender.
鈥淚n Title VII [of the Civil Rights Act of 1964], Congress adopted broad language making it illegal for an employer to rely on an employee鈥檚 sex when deciding to fire that employee,鈥� he wrote. 鈥淲e do not hesitate to recognize today a necessary consequence of that legislative choice: An employer who fires an individual merely for being gay or transgender defies the law.鈥�
Gorsuch was joined by Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. and Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen G. Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor, and Elena Kagan.
Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr., in a dissent joined by Justice Clarence Thomas, said the majority was trying to 鈥渃onvince readers that it is merely enforcing the terms of the statute, but that is preposterous.鈥�
鈥淓ven as understood today, the concept of discrimination because of 鈥榮ex鈥� is different from discrimination because of 鈥榮exual orientation鈥� or 鈥榞ender identity鈥�,鈥� Alito wrote. 鈥淎nd in any event, our duty is to interpret statutory terms to mean what they conveyed to reasonable people at the time they were written.鈥�
Alito made multiple references to what the decision today might mean for interpreting Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, which bars discrimination 鈥渂ased on sex鈥� in federally funded educational programs.
In a separate dissent for himself, Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh said it was " appropriate to acknowledge the important victory achieved today by gay and lesbian Americans,鈥� who have 鈥渨orked hard for many decades to achieve equal treatment in fact and in law.鈥�
鈥淯nder the Constitution鈥檚 separation of powers, however, I believe that it was Congress鈥檚 role, not this Court鈥檚, to amend Title VII,鈥� Kavanaugh said.
A longer version of this story appears here.