Marlean Ames was employed as an executive secretary at the Ohio Dept. of Youth Services, where she says she was passed over for promotion, and then demoted, because she is straight. She says a lesbian woman won the job she applied for and a homosexual man moved into her previous position after she was demoted to a less-paying job.
The case is Ames v Ohio Department of Youth Services.
Ames and her attorneys are arguing she is protected from discrimination through the Civil Rights Act of 1964, but a federal appeals court said her citing of that landmark law requires a high threshold to meet because Aimes is white and straight. The 6th Circuit Court of Appeals said Ames needs to show “background circumstances” to support her claim of reverse discrimination, legal website Scotusblog, in a case summary, explained.
Jeff Jennings, an attorney at Pacific Legal Foundation, specializes in equality cases for the law firm. He listened to oral arguments Wednesday and says he heard a lot of agreement among the justices that tilts in the plaintiff’s favor.
“As Justice Gorsuch mentioned, there's radical agreement that this ‘background circumstances’ rule is wrong. It conflicts with what the Civil Rights Act is trying to do,” Jennings says.
The U.S. Supreme Court has already ruled the Civil Right Act protects everyone, not just one group of people, Jennings tells AFN.
“The justices seem to understand – all of them – that this 'background circumstances' rule undermines this statute,” Jennings adds, so he predicts an overwhelming ruling that sides with Ames.
Back in the Scotusblog article, legal writer Amy Howe similarly concludes the justices were “sympathetic” to Ames and her allegation of reverse discrimination.
