Aimee Stephens (formerly known as Anthony Stephens) was born biologically male. While living and presenting as a man, she worked as a funeral director at R.G. & G.R. Harris Funeral Homes, Inc. in Michigan. Stephens was terminated from the Funeral Home by its owner and operator Mr. Rost shortly after Stephens informed Rost that she intended to transition from male to female and would represent herself and dress as a woman while at work. Stephens filed a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”). which investigated Stephens’s allegations that she had been terminated as a result of unlawful sex discrimination. During the course of its investigation, the EEOC learned that the Funeral Home provided its male public-facing employees with clothing that complied with the company’s dress code while female public-facing employees received no such allowance. The EEOC brought suit against the Funeral Home in which the EEOC charged the Funeral Home with violating Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 for both employment termination on the basis of her transgender transitioning status and her refusal to conform to sex-based stereotypes; and the administering a discriminatory-clothing-allowance policy. The district court granted summary judgment in favor of the Funeral Home on both claims. The Court Appeals REVERSE the district court’s grant of summary judgment on both the unlawful-termination and discriminatory-clothing-allowance claims, GRANT summary judgment to the EEOC on its unlawful-termination claim, sent it back to the district court for further proceedings consistent with this opinion. Even though the case has to be decided by the US Supreme Court, you are to research online information about the case and the arguments presented by the two opposing sides. Discuss your position on the case in terms of the key civil rights (sex discrimination ad and civil liberty religious freedom. How would you decide the case and resolved the key conflict between sex discrimination and religious freedom? Explain why. Next, explain how you predict the Supreme Court will decide. Explain why.
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