Firm’s Amicus Briefs “On the Right Side of History” in Landmark LGBTQ Supreme Court Decision
On June 15, 2020, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a 6-3 decision holding that LGBTQ employees are protected from discrimination under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, a landmark victory for LGBTQ rights. Before the Supreme Court, Patterson Belknap attorneys filed two separate amicus briefs in support of the plaintiff employees, two gay men and a transgender woman.
Attorneys Jonah Knobler and Devon Hercher filed a brief representing interACT: Advocates for Intersex Youth. Their brief explained that, contrary to the arguments of the defendant employers, “sexual anatomy and physiology are not binary for many people, and one’s ‘sex’ cannot be reduced to a straightforward function of body parts.” To read that brief, please click here.
Adeel Mangi, Jonah Knobler and Amir Badat filed a brief on behalf of the Muslim Bar Association of New York and several other Muslim bar associations and advocacy groups. The Muslim groups refuted the notion that religious values could justify the employers’ position and argued that all protected groups would benefit from a broad construction of Title VII. To read that brief, please click here.
Both briefs were expressly cited by Law.com as part of “a stellar crop of briefs” from some of the “top law firms in the country,” placing the filing firms—including Patterson Belknap—“on the right side of history.” To read that story, please click here.