Supreme Court unanimously revives straight woman's ‘reverse discrimination' lawsuit
The Supreme Court unanimously revived a straight woman's 'reverse discrimination' case against her former employer Thursday, lowering the legal hurdle for white and straight employees to bring such lawsuits.
The 9-0 decision rejects that members of a majority group must show 'background circumstances' in addition to the normal requirements to prove a claim under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits employment discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex and national origin.
'We conclude that Title VII does not impose such a heightened standard on majority-group plaintiffs,' Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, former President Biden's sole appointee to the court, wrote for the court.
Marlean Ames, who worked for the Ohio Department of Youth Services for two decades, sued under the landmark law over claims she was passed over for a promotion and demoted in favor of gay colleagues.
Ames appealed to the Supreme Court after lower judges ruled in favor of Ohio, finding Ames hadn't shown proven 'background circumstances' that indicate hers is the unusual case where an employer is discriminating against the majority.
'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.
Justice Clarence Thomas, joined by Justice Neil Gorsuch, two of the court's six Republican-appointed justices, wrote separately to call for examining the court's broader framework it established in a 1973 decision to evaluate employment discrimination claims, warning the framework may not be a 'workable and useful evidentiary tool.'
'Judge-made doctrines have a tendency to distort the underlying statutory text, impose unnecessary burdens on litigants, and cause confusion for courts. The 'background circumstances' rule—correctly rejected by the Court today—is one example of this phenomenon,' Thomas wrote.
Xiao Wang, the director of the University of Virginia's Supreme Court Litigation Clinic who argued before the justices on Ames's behalf, said he was 'pleased' with the high court's decision.
'I think that this has been a long process and ultimately a journey,' Wang said in a brief interview. 'We're really happy the Supreme Court ruled in our favor.'
The Hill has reached out to the Ohio attorney general's office for comment.
Ohio's Department of Youth Services hired Ames in 2004 and a decade later promoted her to become administrator of the Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA).
In 2019, she interviewed for another job at the department but was not hired. Her gay supervisor suggested she retire, and days later, Ames was demoted with a significant pay cut. A 25-year-old gay man was then promoted to become PREA administrator. And months later, the department chose a gay woman for the role Ames unsuccessfully applied for.
A three-judge 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel agreed Ames would've prevailed if she was a gay woman. But they ruled against her since she didn't meet the additional requirement as part of a minority group.
Ames's appeal at the Supreme Court was supported by the Justice Department, the American First Legal Foundation and the libertarian Pacific Legal Foundation, among others. The NAACP Legal Defense & Educational Fund and the National Association of Counties were among those that filed briefs backing Ohio.
Updated at 10:57 a.m. EDT
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles

E&E News
7 minutes ago
- E&E News
Businesses to lawmakers: Don't mess with Energy Star
Business groups are urging Congress to resist Trump administration efforts to privatize Energy Star, the efficiency program for home appliances and building materials. 'Clear legislative authorization backs ENERGY STAR as a voluntary public-private partnership run by the federal government,' more than 30 trade groups said Wednesday in a letter to lawmakers. 'We respectfully request that ENERGY STAR not be supplanted by non-governmental efforts that could significantly alter and overly complicate the program.' Led by the Real Estate Roundtable, the letter was signed by the National Association of Manufacturers; American Chemistry Council; Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers; Air-Conditioning, Heating and Refrigeration Institute; and other groups. Advertisement The letter went to Senate Energy and Natural Resources Chair Mike Lee (R-Utah) and ranking member Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), Senate Environment and Public Works Chair Shelley Moore Capito ( and ranking member Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), and House Energy and Commerce Chair Brett Guthrie (R-Ky) and ranking member Frank Pallone (D-N.J.)


E&E News
7 minutes ago
- E&E News
Hill Republicans applaud climate rule rollback
Republican lawmakers welcomed the Trump administration's Wednesday proposal to roll back limits on power plant emissions. EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin unveiled a plan to wipe out power plant pollution limits and carbon storage requirements that were instituted under former President Joe Biden. The proposal would leave the power sector without a federal mandate to address fossil fuel emissions. Republicans on Capitol Hill were quick to welcome EPA's actions. They downplayed potential climate impacts, instead pointing to the need to bolster fuel production to power artificial intelligence and lower energy prices. Advertisement 'These regulations promulgated during the Biden-Harris administration threaten American businesses and workers without making a meaningful difference toward addressing pollution,' said Rep. Brett Guthrie (R-Ky.), chair of the House's Energy and Commerce Committee, at EPA's Wednesday rollout event.


E&E News
7 minutes ago
- E&E News
Senate Agriculture cuts billions for climate in megabill
The Senate Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Committee's piece of the Republican megabill would steer billions of dollars away from climate-related programs that shaped much of farm policy during the Biden administration. Legislative text released Wednesday would draw as much as $16 billion away from the Inflation Reduction Act's conservation provisions and redirect those unobligated funds toward long-standing programs, shedding the IRA's focus on reducing greenhouse gas emissions through farmland conservation. Chair John Boozman (R-Ark.) said the measure — which will be wrapped into Republican's big tax cut and spending bill being considered through budget reconciliation — would cut waste and update farm programs that were last revised in the 2018 farm bill. Advertisement 'Our farmers and ranchers are facing real challenges, which have been unaddressed for too long,' Boozman said in a news release. 'This legislation delivers the risk management tools and updated farm bill safety net they need to keep producing the safest, most abundant and affordable food, fuel, and fiber in the world.'