I'm Elizabeth Lattery and welcome to SCOTUS 101, where we break down what's happening at the Supreme Court,

what the justices are up to, and other things related to our favorite branch of government.

This week, I'm joined by my heritage colleague Hans von Spikovsky.

Thanks for joining me, Hans.

Elizabeth, thanks for letting me help you guest co-host.

So let's jump right into this week's orders list.

The court granted cert in five cases, which will be argued next term.

First up, consolidated cases, Altitude Express v. Zarda and Bostock v. Clayton County.

And the issue is whether Title VII's prohibition on sex

discrimination and employment covers sexual orientation. So Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights

Act prohibits employers from failing to hire, firing, or otherwise discriminating in the terms

and conditions of employment based on an individual's race, color, religion,

sex, or national origin. So the issue here is, does sex include something more than sex? Does it

include sexual orientation? So these cases were relisted more than a dozen times. So many SCOTUS

watchers expected one of the justices was probably

writing a dissent from denial of cert. But now the court will hear this pair of cases in

addition to another one raising a similar issue, which is Harris Funeral Homes v. EEOC.

And that raises the issue of whether sex discrimination covers gender identity, either as a protected

status or whether it falls under sex stereotyping following a 1989 Supreme Court decision

called Pricewaterhouse v. Hopkins. So Hans, what do you think is going on here? Well, look,

this is an issue that's been bubbling up in the federal courts all over the country.

So I think the Supreme Court realized finally they have to make a decision on it.

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