Afternoon Briefs: Judges tosses transgender woman’s pageant bias suit; SCOTUS allows indoor church services
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Judge tosses suit against pageant company by transgender woman
U.S. District Judge Michael Mosman of Oregon has tossed a lawsuit by a transgender woman who accused a beauty pageant of discriminating against her by banning her from the competition. Anita Noelle Green had sought to compete in the Miss United States of America pageant. Mosman said he viewed the pageant company as an expressive association that can’t be compelled to allow Green to contradict its mission to promote “natural born” females. Green released a statement saying “transgender women are women,” and, “Every person has beauty.” (The Oregonian)
SCOTUS orders county to allow indoor church services
In an order late Friday, the U.S. Supreme Court told California’s Santa Clara County to allow indoor church services pending an appeal of public health restrictions. The court said the outcome was dictated by its decision last month that allowed California churches to hold indoor services with some restrictions. Justices Elena Kagan, Stephen G. Breyer and Sonia Sotomayor dissented from the court’s Feb. 26 order. The case is Gateway City Church v. Newsom. (Law360, SCOTUSblog, the order via How Appealing)
Supreme Court will decide benefits case
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday agreed to decide whether Congress violated equal protection guarantees when it excluded Puerto Ricans from the Supplemental Security Income program. The plaintiff had received SSI benefits when he lived in New York, but the government says the benefits should have ended when he moved to Puerto Rico to help his ailing wife. The government says a ruling against it could cost as much as $23 billion over the next 10 years. The case is United States v. Vaello-Madero. (Law360, SCOTUSblog, the cert petition, the Supreme Court order)
11th Circuit says former law prof didn’t show age bias
The Atlanta-based 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has affirmed dismissal of an age bias case by a fired professor at the now-shuttered Savannah Law School. The appeals court said Maggie Tsavaris had supplied only circumstantial evidence of age bias, and she failed to show the school’s claims about inadequate teaching skills were pretextual. (Law360, the 11th Circuit’s Feb. 25 opinion)
