Last week, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit issued a ground-breaking decision in America First Legal’s lawsuit challenging the Equal Opportunity Employment Commission’s radical transgender “guidance documents.”
AFL sued to stop the EEOC from requiring Christian employers, including churches, to “allow employees into restrooms that correspond to the employees’ gender identity, no matter the individual’s biological sex, whether the individual has had a sex-change operation, or whether other employees have raised objections or privacy concerns.”
AFL prevailed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas. On appeal, the Fifth Circuit also ruled for AFL’s client, holding that it has pre-enforcement standing to sue and that Religious Freedom Restoration Act prevents the EEOC from enforcing its so-called guidance documents against Christian employers. According to the court: “On the merits, and as we explain, we decide that [the Religious Freedom Restoration Act] requires that Braidwood, on an individual level, be exempted from Title VII because compliance with Title VII post-Bostock would substantially burden its ability to operate per its religious beliefs about homosexual and transgender conduct. Moreover, the EEOC wholly fails to carry its burden to show that it has a compelling interest in refusing Braidwood an exemption, even post-Bostock.”
AFL will continue fighting for its clients and against the Biden Administration’s radical, illegal, and overreaching transgender edicts.
Statement from Gene Hamilton, America First Legal Vice President and General Counsel:
“The Biden Administration wrongly tried to keep our clients out of court, arguing that they had to wait for the EEOC to subject them to costly administrative litigation and an intrusive process before their claims against the EEOC’s radical transgender guidance could be heard. While we are thrilled that the Fifth Circuit agreed with our position and further affirmed their rights under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, we will continue to fight for the rights of Americans everywhere to be free from radical administrative transgender edicts.”
The case is Braidwood Management Inc. v. EEOC, No. 22-10145 (5th Cir.). Read the decision here.
