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NEWS JUNE 22, 2020 ¦ 5

‘No Contest’: Gorsuch Leads SCOTUS Ruling
That Protects LGBT Employees Against Firing

By Marcia Coyle

The U.S. Supreme Court in a divided decision
Monday said federal workplace laws prohibit
employers from firing gay, lesbian and trans-
gender workers.
The justices split 6-3, with Justice Neil Gorsuch
writing the majority opinion. He was joined by
Chief Justice John Roberts Jr., and the court’s liberal
wing. Justices Brett Kavanaugh and Samuel Alito Jr.
wrote separate dissents. Justice Clarence Thomas
joined Alito’s dissent.
“Those who adopted the Civil Rights Act might
not have anticipated their work would lead to this
particular result. Likely, they weren’t thinking about
many of the Act’s consequences that have become
apparent over the years, including its prohibition
against discrimination on the basis of motherhood
or its ban on the sexual harassment of male employ-
ees,” Gorsuch wrote in his 43-page opinion. “But the
limits of the drafters’ imagination supply no rea-
son to ignore the law’s demands. When the express
terms of a statute give us one answer and extratex-
tual considerations suggest another, it’s no contest.
Only the written word is the law, and all persons are Associate U.S. Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch,
entitled to its benefit.” left, and Chief Justice John Roberts Jr., right, walk down

the steps of the U.S. Supreme Court after holding an

At oral argument, Gorsuch was seen as possibly Investiture ceremony for Justice Gorsuch, on June 15,
leaning toward a ruling for broad protections for 2017. Photo: Diego M. Radzinschi/ALM

LGBT workers based on the text of the law. But he Kavanaugh, in his separate dissent, wrote that the
also expressed concern about the possible social im- policy arguments for applying Title VII coverage
pact of providing Title VII coverage. were “weighty,” but, he added, “we are judges, not
Alito stated in his 54-page dissent: “There is only Members of Congress. Our role is not to make or
one word for what the court has done today: legisla- amend the law. As written, Title VII does not pro-
tion. The document that the Court releases is in the hibit employment discrimination because of sexual
form of a judicial opinion interpreting a statute, but orientation.” That analysis applies as well to whether
that is deceptive.” Title VII covers gender identity discrimination, he
Alito noted that numerous bills have been intro- wrote.
duced over the past 45 years that would specifically The court’s decision came in three cases which
add “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” to focused closely on the text of Title VII of the Civil
protections under Title VII. “But to date, none has Rights Act of 1964, which bars discrimination
passed both Houses,” he wrote.
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