Gerald Lynn Bostock, Petitioner v. Clayton County, Georgia ; Altitude Express, Inc., Petitioners v. Melissa…

Summary

Justice Gorsuch, joined by Chief Justice Roberts and Justices Ginsburg, Breyer, Sotomayor, and Kagan, held that Title VII prohibits firing an individual merely for being gay or transgender because such discrimination necessarily involves intentional discrimination based in part on the individual's sex. Sex need not be the sole or primary cause, and equal treatment of men and women as groups does not defeat an individual's claim. The Court affirmed the Second and Sixth Circuits and reversed and remanded the Eleventh Circuit's judgment. It reserved questions concerning other statutes, bathrooms, locker rooms, dress codes, and religious-liberty defenses. Justice Alito, joined by Justice Thomas, dissented, arguing that the ordinary public meaning of Title VII in 1964 did not encompass sexual orientation or gender identity discrimination and that the majority had legislated rather than interpreted. Justice Kavanaugh separately dissented, emphasizing ordinary phrasal meaning and Congress's responsibility to amend the statute, while acknowledging the importance of the result for gay and lesbian Americans.