On October 8, two days into the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2019 term, the justices will take up three cases from the 2nd, 6th and 11th Circuits that will have profound implications on employment nationwide. The court will hear arguments in Bostock v. Clayton County, Georgia, Case No. 17-1618, and Altitude Express v. Zarda, Case No. 17-1623, appeals from the 11th and 2nd Circuits, respectively, on the question whether a sexual orientation discrimination claim is actionable as sex discrimination under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Then, in R.G. & G.R. Harris Funeral Homes v. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and Aimee Stephens, Case No. 18-107, the court will consider an appeal from the 6th Circuit on the question whether a gender identity discrimination claim is actionable as sex discrimination under Title VII.

The two sexual orientation discrimination cases are consolidated into a one-hour argument, with the plaintiff-employee appealing in Bostock and the defendant-employer appealing in Altitude Express, followed by a one-hour argument scheduled in R.G. & G.R. Harris Funeral Homes, where that employer is also appealing. This comes against the shift in the political backdrop to these social and legal issues that followed the 2016 presidential election, a seismic change that has impacted the cases on both sides of the bench.