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A landmark ruling in 2020 established legal protection for transgender employees, setting a significant precedent.
The Supreme Court has made a significant ruling on the rights of transgender individuals in the case Bostock v. Clayton County.
In 2020, a significant legal decision stated that a well-known civil rights law safeguards gay and transgender employees from discrimination in the workplace.
Justice Neil M. Gorsuch, appointed to the court by President Donald J. Trump, stated in a 6-3 ruling that it is against the law for an employer to fire someone simply for being gay or transgender. Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., along with the court’s four liberal members at the time, supported this decision.
The 168-page ruling included a majority opinion and two dissents. President Donald J. Trump told reporters that he acknowledged the decision and accepted it. He mentioned that although some people were surprised by the ruling, he respected it and would abide by it. Trump also described the ruling as a strong and significant decision.
The justices were tasked with interpreting a law, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, that prohibits discrimination in employment based on race, religion, national origin, and sex. They needed to determine if the prohibition against discrimination based on sex also extended to gay and transgender employees, affecting a large number of workers.
Gorsuch stated that it was indeed the case
The author stated that when an employer terminates an employee for being homosexual or transgender, they are essentially firing them for characteristics or behaviors that would not have been an issue if they were a different gender.
Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. expressed disagreement by stating that the argument presented was incredibly presumptuous. He also noted that there is no evidence to suggest that any members of Congress understood the text of the law in that particular way when it was passed in 1964.
The law mentioned in the text made it illegal to discriminate against someone at work based on their gender. The case being discussed on Wednesday is about the 14th Amendment’s equal protection clause, which is more broadly written and sets a framework for analysis rather than strict rules. Justice Alito mentioned in 2020 that the court’s decision in this case could influence other constitutional cases.
Adam Liptak is a journalist who specializes in reporting on the Supreme Court and legal news. He studied at Yale Law School and worked as a lawyer for 14 years before starting his journalism career at The New York Times in 2002.
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