Recent Supreme Court Cases

1. Religion:
Hosanna-Tabor Evangelical Lutheran Church and School v. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission

In 1999, Cheryl Perich started teaching at Hosanna-Tabor Evangelical Lutheran Church and School in Redford, Michigan. While Perich led students in prayer and taught a religion class several days a week, her job primarily consisted of teaching grade school art, science, social studies and music. In 2004, Perich left on disability and was diagnosed with narcolepsy. In 2005, after being cleared by her doctors to go back to work, the school told her that they already hired someone else. Perich then threatened to file suit, so the school promptly fired her for "insubordination and disruptive behavior."

The court unanimously agreed with a prior decision that "the Establishment Clause prevents the Government from appointing ministers, and the Free Exercise Clause prevents it from interfering with the freedom of religious groups to select their own."


2. Minority:
Ricci v. DeStefano

This case was in regards to the racially discriminatory employment practices by New Haven, Connecticut's fire department. Eighteen of the city's firefighters sued them on the basis of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Most of these firefighters were white with one hispanic. They sued because they were all denied promotions to management positions, even though they all passed the management exams. Furthermore, the positions were given to black firefighters who apparently did not meet the requirements of the exam.

The Supreme Court heard the case. The Court held 5–4 that New Haven's decision to ignore the test results violated Title VII because the city did not have a "strong basis in evidence."


3. School System:
Fisher v. University of Texas

A girl was denied admission into the University of Texas. She argued that it was on the basis of her skin color. Surprisingly enough, she was actually white, which totally goes against the grain of most previous racial discrimination. She put the blame of this on the basis of her black friend's acceptance into UT with the same or lower academic credentials.

The court ruled in favor of the girl and forced the university to remove race questions from their application. But also, the school had the right to accept a certain number of black students.