Devil in the detail of SCOTUS ruling on workplace bias puts LGBTQ rights and religious freedom on collision course

Authors

Kelsy Burke, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow
Emily Kazyak, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow

ORCID IDs

0000-0002-3488-5914 Emily Kazyak

0000-0001-6302-4446 Kelsy Burke

Document Type

Article

Date of this Version

5-22-2020

Citation

The Conversation, June 22, 2020.

https://theconversation.com/devil-in-the-detail-of-scotus-ruling-on-workplace-bias-puts-lgbtq-rights-and-religious-freedom-on-collision-course-141094

Abstract

orientation and gender identity was cheered by LGBTQ people and allies. Indeed, the June 15 decision represents a big win in the fight for LGBTQ equality. But buried towards the end of a 33-page majority opinion written by conservative stalwart Justice Neil Gorsuch is a sober warning that those celebrating the decision might have initially missed. In his reading, the religious beliefs of an employer may “supersede” the Title VII protections now being extended to the LGBTQ community in its resolution of Bostock v. Clayton County. It is an issue that courts will likely have to decide on a case-by-case basis in the future. But Gorsuch notably referred to the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, passed by Congress in 1993 to protect an individual’s practice of their faith, as a “super statute” and emphasizes the court’s mandate to uphold “the promise of the free exercise of religion enshrined in our Constitution.”