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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before us. So while other employers in other cases may
raise free exercise arguments that merit careful considera-
tion, none of the employers before us today represent in this
Court that compliance with Title VII will infringe their own
religious liberties in any way.
                              *
   Some of those who supported adding language to Title VII
to ban sex discrimination may have hoped it would derail
the entire Civil Rights Act. Yet, contrary to those inten-
tions, the bill became law. Since then, Title VII’s effects
have unfolded with far-reaching consequences, some likely
beyond what many in Congress or elsewhere expected.
   But none of this helps decide today’s cases. Ours is a so-
ciety of written laws. Judges are not free to overlook plain
statutory commands on the strength of nothing more than
suppositions about intentions or guesswork about expecta-
tions. In Title VII, Congress adopted broad language mak-
ing it illegal for an employer to rely on an employee’s sex
when deciding to fire that employee. We do not hesitate to
recognize today a necessary consequence of that legislative
choice: An employer who fires an individual merely for be-
ing gay or transgender defies the law.
   The judgments of the Second and Sixth Circuits in Nos.
17–1623 and 18–107 are affirmed. The judgment of the
Eleventh Circuit in No. 17–1618 is reversed, and the case
is remanded for further proceedings consistent with this
opinion.
                                             It is so ordered.
                  Cite as: 590 U. S. ____ (2020)            1

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