On June 5, 2025, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously affirmed the legal burden of proof required to establish a “reverse discrimination” claim. In “reverse discrimination” cases, a member of a majority group alleges they were discriminated against based on their membership in that majority group. The question before the Court was whether majority-group plaintiffs claiming discrimination had to meet a higher burden of proof than minority-group plaintiffs. Specifically, whether they had to demonstrate “background circumstances” to support that the defendant was an “unusual” employer that discriminated against the majority, as some lower courts had ruled. The Supreme Court unanimously responded, “No” and confirmed that the burden of proof is the same for every plaintiff who alleges discrimination, regardless of their majority or minority group status. Ames v. Ohio Dep’t of Youth Servs., No. 23-1039 (U.S. June 5, 2025).
In Ames, a heterosexual woman claimed she was discriminated against when she was passed up for promotion in favor of a lesbian woman and later demoted in favor of a gay man. Her case was initially dismissed because she did not offer evidence of “background circumstances” showing the defendant was a rare employer that discriminated against majority employees. The U.S. Supreme Court, however, reversed the lower court’s ruling, reasoning that the text of Title VII, which bars discrimination “against any individual…because of such individual’s race, color, religion, sex, or national origin,” focuses on individuals rather than groups. Therefore, courts should not apply special evidentiary burdens to majority-group plaintiffs. The Court clarified that “this additional ‘background circumstances’ requirement is not consistent with Title VII’s text or our case law construing the statute.” This decision reinforces the notion that Title VII protects all employees from discrimination, regardless of whether the individual is part of a minority or majority group.
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