Slate Daily Feed Amicus | Sneak Preview: Unanimous Opinions Out Front, Desperate Dealmaking Out Back
Jun 5, 2025
Mark Joseph Stern, a legal analyst, discusses pivotal Supreme Court decisions impacting discrimination and workplace rights. He delves into Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson's stand on reverse discrimination, while Justice Sonia Sotomayor reinforces church-state separation in her ruling on Catholic charities. The conversation reveals strategies employed by the court's liberal justices and concerns about the future implications of recent rulings on workplace protections. The analysis also highlights the rising trend of dismissed cases potentially connected to ambitious former clerks.
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Equal Burden in Discrimination Claims
- Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson clarified that members of majority groups do not have a heightened burden to claim workplace discrimination under Title VII.
- This ruling affirms that discrimination claims can be made equally by all individuals, regardless of their group status.
Religious Charities and Tax Exemption
- Justice Sonia Sotomayor ruled that Wisconsin cannot deny tax exemptions to religious charities that serve all, not just co-religionists.
- The decision protects religious freedom and enforces the separation of church and state by forbidding favoritism among faith groups.
Reaffirming the Establishment Clause
- The court's ruling in Catholic Charities breathes life back into the Establishment Clause protecting separation of church and state.
- Sotomayor's opinion cited key precedents affirming prohibitions on public school prayer and favoritism among religions.