Supreme Court weighs straight woman's reverse discrimination claim
Marlean Ames sued Ohio officials claiming that she was treated unfairly at work because she is straight.
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Wednesday considers the novel legal question of whether a woman can pursue a workplace sex discrimination case over claims she was discriminated against because she is straight.
The court's ultimate ruling could lower the bar for people belonging to majority groups to bring so-called reverse discrimination claims.
Marlean Ames brought a claim against the Ohio Department of Youth Services under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, which prohibits sex discrimination in the workplace, after a lesbian woman obtained a promotion she was also seeking. She was then demoted, and her old position was taken by a gay man.
Ames had worked at the department since 2004. Starting in 2017, she began reporting to a lesbian woman. She was denied the promotion she sought two years later and demoted soon after that.
Lower courts, including the Cincinnati-based 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, ruled for the state agency. Ames then turned to the Supreme Court.
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