Jeff Sessions's Dept of Justice Says Businesses Can Discriminate Against Transgender Workers

Department of Justice has it's mission in it's name: Justice.  Jeff Sessions, a terrible human being, doesn't see it that way.  He loves discrimination.  That's his justice.

The Justice Department today told the U.S. Supreme Court that businesses can discriminate against workers based on their gender identity without violating federal law.

Solicitor General Noel Francisco told the high court that a civil rights law banning sex discrimination on the job doesn’t cover transgender bias. 

Some background on why the DOJ said this:

A Michigan funeral home wants the high court to overturn a U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit decision finding that the company violated federal workplace discrimination law when it fired Aimee Stephens, a transgender worker. 

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission successfully sued on behalf of Stephens in that case, but the Justice Department has the sole authority to represent the government before the Supreme Court. The DOJ told the high court that the Sixth Circuit got the case wrong.

The American Civil Liberties Union has intervened in the case and will represent Stephens if the high court decides to grant the funeral home’s request for review

So to summarize, our EEOC sued on behalf of one of our citizens who was wrong.  They/We won.  Since the defendent is appealing to the Supreme Court, the DOJ would have to represent the transgender individual.  The DOJ says no thanks, they don't want to defend this person because they believe it's OK to discriminate against them.  Yes, you read that correctly.

The Justice Department—and 16 states that recently asked the Supreme Court to scrap the decision—say Congress didn’t intend Title VII’s ban on sex discrimination to cover bias against lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender employees.

“This administration is not a friend of the LGBT community,” Greg Nevins, an attorney for Lambda Legal, told Bloomberg Law. “They can say what they’re going to say, but the courts will have the final word.”

 

Source: https://news.bloomberglaw.com/daily-labor-report/justice-department-says-transgender-discrimination-is-lawful

Date: 
Thursday, November 1, 2018