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A landmark ruling in 2020 set a significant legal precedent in favor of protecting the rights of transgender employees.
The Supreme Court has only made one significant ruling on the rights of transgender individuals, which is the case of Bostock v. Clayton County.
The decision made in 2020 confirmed that a significant civil rights law prohibits discrimination against gay and transgender employees in the workplace.
Justice Neil M. Gorsuch, who was appointed to the court by President Donald J. Trump, stated in the majority opinion of a 6-3 ruling that it is illegal for an employer to fire someone for being gay or transgender. Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. and four liberal justices also joined Gorsuch in this decision.
The majority opinion and two dissents collectively covered 168 pages. President Donald J. Trump told reporters that he agreed with the ruling after reading it. He mentioned that while some people may have been surprised by the outcome, he respected the decision and considered it to be a strong one.
The justices were tasked with determining the interpretation of a law, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, that prohibits discrimination in employment on the basis of race, religion, national origin, and sex. They needed to determine if this prohibition on discrimination based on sex also included protection for gay and transgender employees.
Justice Gorsuch stated that it was indeed the case
The writer mentioned that if an employer dismisses someone for being homosexual or transgender, they are essentially firing them for characteristics or behaviors that they would not have an issue with if the person belonged to a different gender.
In his disagreement, Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. expressed astonishment at the audacity of the argument, stating that there is no proof that any member of Congress understood the text of the law in that way when it was passed in 1964.
The law in question made it illegal to discriminate in the workplace based on gender. The case being debated on Wednesday, however, deals with the 14th Amendment’s equal protection clause, which is more broad and sets a framework for analysis rather than specific rules. Despite this, Justice Alito suggested in 2020 that the court’s decision in this case could influence future constitutional cases.
Adam Liptak is a journalist who reports on the Supreme Court and writes a column called Sidebar about legal news. He attended Yale Law School and worked as a lawyer for 14 years before starting at The New York Times in 2002. Learn more about Adam Liptak.
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