Supreme Court’s Decision Doubt LGBTQ Rights
Court’s New Ruling May Undermine Landmark LGBTQ Decision
In a surprising move, the Supreme Court issued a brief and unusual opinion on Friday that appears to weaken its significant 2020 civil rights decision in Bostock v. Clayton County. That ruling, which required the Biden administration to create regulations protecting LGBTQ students from discrimination, now faces uncertainty following the Court’s new decision in Department of Education v. Louisiana. The latest ruling temporarily upholds lower court decisions that blocked several of the administration’s anti-discrimination policies aimed at schools and universities.
Bostock’s Impact and Biden’s Regulations
The Bostock decision declared that federal anti-discrimination laws prohibiting “sex” discrimination in the workplace also apply to sexual orientation and gender identity. Justice Neil Gorsuch, writing for the majority, asserted that it is impossible to discriminate against someone for being gay or transgender without discriminating based on sex. This broad interpretation of sex discrimination extended protections for LGBTQ individuals under any law that forbids discrimination on the basis of sex.
In response, the Biden administration released new Title IX regulations, aligning with the Bostock decision. These rules prohibited discrimination in educational institutions receiving federal funding, including protection for sexual orientation and gender identity. The regulations sought to extend the principle of Bostock to education, defining sex discrimination to encompass sexual orientation, gender identity, and related conditions.
The Louisiana Decision and Its Implications
Despite the previous confidence in Bostock‘s durability, the recent Louisiana decision has cast doubt on whether the current Court will continue to defend LGBTQ protections. The Court, in a 5-4 split, declined to reinstate key provisions of the Biden administration’s Title IX rules, leaving lower court rulings that blocked the entire set of regulations in place.
Interestingly, all three liberal justices joined the dissent, along with Gorsuch, the author of the Bostock decision. However, the dissent focused narrowly on the lower courts blocking provisions that weren’t challenged by the plaintiffs, rather than on defending the Bostock precedent itself.
Read also : Bulgaria: Law banning ‘LGBTQ+ propaganda’ in schools
The Court’s Unclear Position on Bostock
What’s particularly striking about the Louisiana ruling is the absence of any direct reference to Bostock. Neither the majority opinion nor the dissent explicitly discussed why the Bostock precedent was not upheld. This omission raises concerns about the future of LGBTQ rights protections, especially given that none of the Court’s six conservative justices backed the Bostock ruling this time.
One possible explanation for the Democratic justices’ stance could be related to their general opposition to the Court’s increasingly frequent use of its shadow docket — a process for handling emergency matters with minimal explanation. The liberal justices may have been reluctant to grant relief on the shadow docket, as they had previously criticized the Court’s conservative majority for doing so under the Trump administration. However, their position remains unclear, particularly given their support for reinstating unchallenged provisions of the Biden administration’s rules.
Future of LGBTQ Protections in Question
The Louisiana decision leaves significant uncertainty about the Supreme Court’s commitment to protecting LGBTQ rights, especially in educational settings. Although the Bostock decision seemed secure even with a conservative supermajority, the Court’s recent actions suggest that those protections may not be as strong as once believed. Without further explanation from the justices, the decision raises serious questions about the future of anti-discrimination laws and their application to LGBTQ individuals in the United States.
- LGBT POLITICAL NEWS
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