Supreme Court Hears A Colorado Preschool Religion Case On Election Day And A Pregnancy Bias Suit Against Fulton County Prosecutors

Supreme Court arguments this week include a Georgia pregnancy discrimination case on Monday, November 2, and a Colorado preschool case on Election Day, Tuesday, November 3, according to the court’s November argument calendar.

On Monday the justices hear Younge v. Fulton Judicial Circuit District Attorney’s Office. Jasmine Younge was hired in April 2019 as deputy chief of staff to Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard, according to the Oyez case summary. She says Howard fired her weeks after she told him she was pregnant, and she sued under Title VII, the federal law that bars employment discrimination. The district attorney’s office did not raise a defense that Title VII’s exemption for an elected official’s personal staff applied to her until after the evidence gathering phase had closed. A federal judge allowed the late defense and ruled for the office, and the 11th Circuit upheld that ruling, the Atlanta Journal Constitution reported. The justices are not deciding whether she was discriminated against. They are deciding whether a defendant can rely on a defense it left out of its original answer. The court’s calendar also lists Maxwell v. Dinis on Monday.

On Tuesday the court hears St. Mary Catholic Parish v. Roy, a challenge to Colorado’s universal preschool program. The Human Rights Campaign described the dispute this way: the state program has nondiscrimination requirements, and St. Mary Catholic Parish and the other plaintiffs argue those requirements violate their First Amendment right to practice their religion by limiting their ability to turn away LGBTQ families. The federal district court found the requirements neutral and generally applicable, and the 10th Circuit affirmed, the group said.

On Wednesday, November 4, the court hears Guerrero v. Johnson, according to SCOTUSblog. It involves habeas corpus, a petition in which a prisoner asks a federal court to review whether their detention is lawful. The question is when a habeas claim can rely on a previously unavailable rule of constitutional law, including when the prisoner could have raised a claim based on that rule in an earlier petition. Eric Guerrero, who leads the Correctional Institutions Division of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, is the petitioner, and Dexter Johnson is the respondent.

Oral argument is the hearing where each side’s lawyers answer questions from the justices. The court does not rule on the day of argument. It usually issues decisions months later, so none of these cases will be decided this week.

The following week brings more Supreme Court arguments. Nielsen v. Watanabe and Hoffmann v. WBI Energy Transmission are set for Monday, November 9, and Department of Labor v. Sun Valley Orchards is set for Tuesday, November 10. The court’s calendar lists no arguments on Wednesday, November 11, a legal holiday.

Dee Dee Henderson

Dee Dee Henderson is a Poli Alert journalist covering national politics, elections and the policies that hit closest to home for Black communities, from voting rights and the economy to the courts. She reports the facts first and isn't afraid to say what they mean, and her commentary pieces are clearly labeled as opinion. Her midterm coverage breaks down deadlines, ballot measures and the races that will decide who holds power in Washington.

See Full Bio