More Lenient Standard in Discrimination Cases

On June 5, 2025, in Ames v. Ohio Dept. of Youth Services, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously reversed the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals' background circumstances rule, which required members of a majority group (such as heterosexual individuals) to satisfy a heightened evidentiary standard in order to prevail on an unlawful employment discrimination claim.  As a result, a ruling against a heterosexual woman who alleged that she was denied a promotion which was instead awarded to a lesbian due to her sexual orientation, was reversed and remanded so that the lower court could apply the correct standard - without the background circumstances rule - to the facts.  

In a concurring opinion, Justices Thomas and Gorsuch opined that the long-standing McDonnell-Douglas framework used by federal District Courts and Circuit Courts of Appeals to evaluate unlawful employment discrimination claims is improper and "litigants and lower courts are free to proceed without" it.  The concurrence added that lower courts and litigants in discrimination cases should not refer to McDonnell-Douglas when analyzing summary judgment motions but instead should simply apply the applicable Federal Rule of Civil Procedure, 56. 

By relaxing the burden on plaintiffs in unlawful discrimination cases, the Ames decision may be a turning point in this area of the law.