Section 7

Citation: Section 7
Parent Document: Bostock v. Clayton County, 590 U.S. 644 (2020)
Jurisdiction: United States (federal)
Effective Date: 2020-06-15
Original Source: https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/4760997/bostock-v-clayton-county/ ↗

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    The only statutorily protected characteristic at issue in
today’s cases is “sex”—and that is also the primary term in
Title VII whose meaning the parties dispute. Appealing to
roughly contemporaneous dictionaries, the employers say
that, as used here, the term “sex” in 1964 referred to “status
as either male or female [as] determined by reproductive
biology.” The employees counter by submitting that, even
in 1964, the term bore a broader scope, capturing more than
anatomy and reaching at least some norms concerning gen-
der identity and sexual orientation. But because nothing in
our approach to these cases turns on the outcome of the par-
ties’ debate, and because the employees concede the point
for argument’s sake, we proceed on the assumption that
“sex” signified what the employers suggest, referring only
to biological distinctions between male and female.
    Still, that’s just a starting point. The question isn’t just
what “sex” meant, but what Title VII says about it. Most
notably, the statute prohibits employers from taking cer-
tain actions “because of ” sex. And, as this Court has previ-
ously explained, “the ordinary meaning of ‘because of ’ is ‘by
reason of ’ or ‘on account of.’ ” University of Tex. Southwest-
ern Medical Center v. Nassar, 570 U. S. 338, 350 (2013) (cit-
ing Gross v. FBL Financial Services, Inc., 557 U. S. 167, 176
(2009); quotation altered). In the language of law, this
means that Title VII’s “because of ” test incorporates the
“ ‘simple’ ” and “traditional” standard of but-for causation.
Nassar, 570 U. S., at 346, 360. That form of causation is
established whenever a particular outcome would not have
happened “but for” the purported cause. See Gross, 557
U. S., at 176. In other words, a but-for test directs us to
change one thing at a time and see if the outcome changes.
If it does, we have found a but-for cause.
    This can be a sweeping standard. Often, events have
multiple but-for causes. So, for example, if a car accident
6               BOSTOCK v. CLAYTON COUNTY Opinion of the Court

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