The Supreme Court handed a victory to LGBT Americans, ruling in a 6-3 decision that any employers who fire a worker for being gay or transgender violate Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. That law protects people from employer sex discrimination, as well as discrimination based on race, color, religion or national origin.
The decision covered three cases. In one, a Clayton County, Georgia employee was fired from his job as a child welfare advocate “for conduct unbecoming” a county employee. He was sacked soon after he joined a gay softball league. In another, a New York skydiving instructor was let go days after mentioning he was gay. And in a third, a male Michigan funeral home worker, who after six years into his employment told his employer that he would be identifying as a woman, was fired. In all of the cases, the employers said they fired the workers for being gay or transgender, but they argued that this did not violate Title VII.
Justice Neil Gorsuch said for the majority, “Ours is a society of written laws. Judges are not free to overlook plain statutory commands on the strength of nothing more than suppositions about intentions or guesswork about expectations. In Title VII, Congress adopted broad language making it illegal for an employer to rely on an employee’s sex when deciding to fire that employee. We do not hesitate to recognize today a necessary consequence of that legislative choice: An employer who fires an individual merely for being gay or transgender defies the law.” Gorsuch had been pilloried by liberal groups for his alleged ultra-rightwing social views.
In dissent, Justice Samuel Alito said the majority was too expansive in their analysis, calling the decision “legislation,” an opinion concurred by Justice Clarence Thomas. “There is only one word for what the Court has done today: legislation. The document that the Court releases is in the form of a judicial opinion interpreting a statute, but that is deceptive.” Alito said the majority view “no doubt arises from humane and generous impulses,” acknowledging the desire to treat gay, lesbian, and transgender people “with the dignity, consideration, and fairness that everyone deserves,” but said the court’s role “is limited to saying what the law is,” not legislating from the bench.
Justice Brett Kavanaugh made a similar argument in a dissent of his own: “Under the Constitution’s separation of powers, the responsibility to amend Title VII belongs to Congress and the President in the legislative process, not to this Court. Notwithstanding my concern about the Court’s transgression of the Constitution’s separation of powers, it is appropriate to acknowledge the important victory achieved today by gay and lesbian Americans.
“Millions of gay and lesbian Americans have worked hard for many decades to achieve equal treatment in fact and in law. They have exhibited extraordinary vision, tenacity, and grit—battling often steep odds in the legislative and judicial arenas, not to mention in their daily lives. They have advanced powerful policy arguments and can take pride in today’s result.” His sentiments should also be noted, as Kavanaugh was also said by the Left to be an anti-civil rights bigot and conservative extremist.
This piece was written by David Kamioner on June 15, 2020. It originally appeared in LifeZette [1] and is used by permission.
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