The Supreme Court on Monday announced that it will not intervene in a religious discrimination case out of California, meaning that a lower court ruling against a former fire chief will remain in place.
Justice Clarence Thomas criticized his colleagues' decision in a dissenting opinion that accompanied Monday’s order list, arguing that the court needs to clarify how judges should approach employment discrimination claims.
“It behooves us to ... offer clear guidance on how to determine whether a Title VII claim survives summary judgment. This petition provides an opportunity to do so,” Thomas wrote in his dissent, which was joined by Justice Neil Gorsuch.
Hittle v. City of Stockton
The petition in question came from Ron Hittle, who served as fire chief in Stockton, California, from 2005 to 2011.
Hittle’s battle with city officials stemmed from his decision in 2010 to attend a leadership program at a church.
After Stockton leaders realized it was a faith-based program, they hired an outside investigator to look into Hittle’s work more broadly.
The investigator concluded that the fire chief’s commitment to his Christian faith was interfering with, rather than supporting, his leadership efforts.
As a result of the investigation, Stockton officials fired Hittle, who then accused them of violating Title VII by discriminating against him because of his religion. He filed a lawsuit based on that claim.
As Thomas noted in his dissent, Hittle lost on summary judgment. The district court and then the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said that Hittle had failed to demonstrate that religious animus fueled the city’s decision to fire him.
Hittle had asked the Supreme Court to intervene and make it clear that summary judgment was not appropriate in his case.
He needed at least four justices to vote to weigh in on the conflict in order for it to be taken up and apparently only two did.
“We are disappointed with the court’s decision regarding this religious discrimination case,” said Kelly Shackelford, president, CEO and chief counsel to First Liberty, one of the firms representing Hittle, in a Monday statement. “We will continue to fight for all people of faith whose religious liberty is threatened.”
Supreme Court’s religion cases
Although the Supreme Court did not take up Hittle v. City of Stockton, it will hear three other religious freedom cases this spring.
- In Catholic Charities Bureau v. Wisconsin Labor & Industry Review Commission, the justices will explore Wisconsin’s definition of religious organization to determine if a Catholic nonprofit should be eligible for a tax break.
- In Mahmoud v. Taylor, the justices will determine whether religious parents have a right to opt their kids out of classroom discussions on sensitive issues like gender identity.
- In Oklahoma Charter School Board v. Drummond, the justices will weigh whether a faith-based school is eligible to be a charter school.
The Supreme Court will hear oral arguments about Catholic Charities Bureau on March 31, Mahmoud on April 22 and Oklahoma Charter School Board on April 30.