Employees score big win at SCOTUS!

On April 17, the U.S. Supreme Court gave a long-sought victory to employees and the lawyers representing them. Its decision that a police sergeant’s discrimination claim based on a job transfer should go to trial expands the types of lawsuits that employees can file.

What gives?

I suspect readers are asking: Wait, I thought the Supreme Court was a bastion of conservatism? Actually, the Court is often driven less by ideology and more by “textualism.” What’s that?

The Court gives effect to the actual language of a law, such as Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The late Justice Antonin Scalia famously remarked that it is “the [specific] provisions of our laws”—not the amorphous and often conflicting intent of members of Congress—that matters. And this is only fair. After all, those who must obey laws need to know what is expected of them. And they know expectations from the language of the law. Keep this in mind as you read about this case.

Does image matter?

Sergeant Jatonya Muldrow worked for the St. Louis Police Department. Life was good. Given high profile crimes to investigate, she was at the top of her game. The perks were great—FBI credentials, an unmarked take-home car, and the authority to pursue investigations outside St. Louis.