Supreme Court signals it will make it easier for Americans to file ‘reverse discrimination’ suits

The Supreme Court appeared virtually certain to side with an Ohio woman who lost a “reverse discrimination” suit against her employer when her gay boss declined to promote her, a decision that will likely make it easier for some White and straight employees to win similar claims.

The Supreme Court appeared virtually certain to side with an Ohio woman who lost a “reverse discrimination” suit against her employer when her gay boss declined to promote her, a decision that will likely make it easier for some White and straight employees to win similar claims. At a moment when President Donald Trump has politicized workplace diversity efforts, both the court’s conservative and liberal justices – as well as the attorneys arguing the case – appeared during brief arguments Wednesday to agree that some courts are misreading the law and erecting unfair burdens against discrimination suits filed by employees who are members of a majority group. “We’re in radical agreement today,” Justice Neil Gorsuch, a member of the court’s conservative wing, quipped at one point. Marlean Ames started working for Ohio’s state government in 2004 and steadily rose through the ranks at the Department of Youth Services. She claims that in 2017 she started reporting to a gay boss and was passed over for a promotion that was offered to another gay woman. Ames is challenging a requirement applied in five appeals courts across the nation that “majority” Americans raising discrimination claims must demonstrate “background circumstances” in order to pursue their suit. A plaintiff might meet that requirement, for instance, by providing statistical evidence documenting a pattern of discrimination against members of a majority. Ames couldn’t do that in this case and so she lost.