The Supreme Court unanimously ruled Thursday in favor of a straight woman who sued her employer for discrimination when she was denied promotion and demoted because of her sexual orientation.
The decision will make it easier for members of majority groups to sue for discrimination in parts of the country and comes amid President Donald Trump’s crackdown on diversity, equity, and inclusion programs. Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson wrote the opinion for the court.
“By establishing the same protections for every ‘individual’ — without regard to that individual’s membership in a minority or majority group — Congress left no room for courts to impose special requirements on majority-group plaintiffs alone,” Jackson wrote.
The petitioner, Marlean Ames, started working for the Ohio Department of Youth Services in 2004. After being interviewed for a management position in 2017, her boss selected a lesbian woman to fill the role instead. The agency later demoted Ames from her role as program administrator and hired a gay man in her place.
Ames filed a lawsuit against the agency under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits employment discrimination on the basis of sex, saying she was denied the employment opportunities because she is straight. Both the District Court and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit held Ames failed to meet a heightened evidentiary standard necessary to claim discrimination. Because she is part of the majority group, both courts held Ames would have to provide evidence of background circumstances showing her employer had exhibited a pattern of discrimination against members of majority groups. A minority-group plaintiff would not have to face the same hurdle.
The Court held the “background circumstances” rule, applied in the Sixth Circuit and four other appeals courts across the country, does not align with federal anti-discrimination law or Supreme Court precedent.
“The Sixth Circuit has implemented a rule that requires certain Title VII plaintiffs—those who are members of majority groups—to satisfy a heightened evidentiary standard in order to carry their burden under the first step of the McDonnell Douglas framework,” Jackson wrote. “We conclude that Title VII does not impose such a heightened standard on majority-group plaintiffs.”
The unanimous decision comes as the Trump administration seeks to dismantle DEI efforts in both the government and the private sector and two years after the Supreme Court struck down affirmative action in college admissions.