Restrict the reach of the Bostock ruling
What the document says“The new Administration should restrict Bostock’s application of sex discrimination protections to sexual orientation and transgender status in the context of hiring and firing.”
Bostock v. Clayton County held in 2020 that firing someone for being gay or transgender is discrimination because of sex under Title VII. The chapter asks that its reasoning be confined to hiring and firing, that agencies withdraw notices and guidance applying it more broadly, and that regulations reading sex discrimination to cover sexual orientation, gender identity and transgender status be rescinded.
What the document actually says“The new Administration should restrict Bostock’s application of sex discrimination protections to sexual orientation and transgender status in the context of hiring and firing.”
One court ruling covers hiring and firing. Keep it to that and no further.
A court said firing someone for being gay or trans is sex discrimination. The book says that should apply to hiring and firing only. It should not spread to other rules.
Initial Rescissions of Harmful Executive Orders and Actions
2025-01-20 · 90 FR 8237
Executive Order 14148 of January 20, 2025 revokes Executive Order 13988, the 2021 order that had directed agencies to apply the reasoning of Bostock to every statute prohibiting sex discrimination, and its section 3(b) directs the Domestic Policy Council and the National Economic Council to review actions taken under the revoked orders and take steps to rescind, replace or amend them. Withdrawing that instruction is the route by which the broad reading the chapter objects to loses its government-wide backing. The fit breaks down because revoking an executive order does not restrict what the Supreme Court held: the order does not confine Bostock to hiring and firing in terms, names no guidance document or regulation to be withdrawn, and lists the revocation among 78 others without giving any reason tied to Bostock.
A 2021 order told agencies to read a court ruling on sex bias broadly. This order scraps that one and calls for a review of steps taken under it. But an order cannot change what the Court held. It sets no limit on the ruling and names no rule to pull. It is one of 78 items scrapped at once, with no reason given for this one.