Supreme Court sides with straight woman in Ohio 'reverse discrimination' case
The unanimous decision, which landed amid a national backlash against diversity, equity and inclusion programs, could trigger a wave of 'reverse discrimination' lawsuits.
The justices rejected a lower court's ruling that Marlean Ames could not sue the Ohio Department of Youth Services because she'd failed to provide 'background circumstances' showing the department was 'that unusual employer who discriminates against the majority.'
That's a test created in 1981 by a federal appeals court used by some, but not most, of the federal courts when assessing claims brought under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit said in 1981 that while white people are covered by the Civil Rights Act, it defied common sense 'to suggest that the promotion of a black employee justifies an inference of prejudice against white co-workers in our present society.'
But the law itself, which bans discrimination based on 'race, color, religion, sex or national origin,' doesn't set different thresholds for members of minority and majority groups.
Ames' lawyers told the justices her suit would not have been dismissed at this stage of the litigation had she been gay and the employees who got the jobs she wanted were straight.
During the court's discussion of the case in February, Ohio's solicitor general did not defend the 'exact language' the Cincinnati-based 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals used when rejecting Ames' suit over insufficient 'background circumstances.' But T. Elliot Gaiser, the solicitor general, argued that Ames still failed to show enough evidence that her sexual orientation played any role in the hiring decisions she questioned.
Ames twice lost jobs at the Ohio Department of Youth Services to other candidates she thought were less qualified, both of whom were gay.
The department said she was passed over for a promotion because she lacked the necessary vision and leadership skills, not because she happened to be straight.
Officials said she was then demoted from her administrator position because she wouldn't bring a proactive approach to the department's increased emphasis on combatting sexual violence in the juvenile corrections system.
The Supreme Court's decision in Amex v. Ohio Department of Youth Services doesn't settle Ames' discrimination claim but only revives it for additional court proceedings.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Supreme Court sides with straight woman claiming job discrimination in Ohio
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A coalition of Montana unions and progressive groups launched a committee and two versions of ballot language for an amendment that would enshrine nonpartisan judicial elections in the state constitution, following a separate group that launched a similar effort in June ... Alaska natural-medicine activists seeking to decriminalize psychedelics have been cleared to begin gathering signatures for an initiative that would appear on the 2026 ballot ... And in Colorado, two high school seniors have filed a proposed initiative to automatically admit the top 10 percent of graduates from every Colorado high school to state colleges and universities based on their grade point averages. POSTCARD FROM ... ORANGE: Swim classes are cancelled, summer day camp has disappeared, and the upcoming Halloween fair is now entirely volunteer-run — all the result of a budget crunch that could lead this Southern California city to declare bankruptcy. 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Reassign excess land originally purchased with state gas-tax revenue for road construction to be used instead as public parks (1976, passed) ... Impose a 10 percent surtax on energy-related businesses operating in California, along with a tax credit for those which reduce fossil-fuel use (1980, failed) ... Uphold the state Senate district map drawn by the state Legislature in 1981 and keep it in place until 1991 (1982, failed) ... Authorize local governments to enter into sales tax revenue-sharing agreements with one another (1998, passed) ... And allow ambulance providers to require workers to remain on-call during their meal and rest breaks (2018, passed).
