The Supreme Court unanimously sided with a woman on Thursday who claimed her employer discriminated against her because she is straight.
The court held that members of majority groups should not have to face a “heightened evidentiary standard” to prove a discrimination claim.
“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,” Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson wrote in the majority opinion.
Marlean Ames sued her employer under Title VII for sex-based discrimination in 2020, alleging she did not receive a promotion and was eventually demoted due to her status as a “heterosexual woman.” The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals rejected her claims, finding she lacked evidence of the “background circumstances” needed to prove discrimination against a “majority” group member.
“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.”
This is a breaking news story and will be updated.
All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact [email protected].
