Month: April 2023

Supreme Court Ethics in the Spotlight

Of course by now, we have all seen the headlines of Clarence Thomas’s gifts. More ‘scandals’ coming to light in the Supreme Court is causing a steady decline in the American people’s trust of the court and justices.

Only 25% of Americans currently have faith in the Supreme Court, according to this NY Times article. That is unsettlingly low for the highest court in the land that is supposed to be an unbiased final judge.

There is a lot of controversy over Justice Thomas’s acceptance of gifts from a wealthy Republican donor and failure to disclose them.

It will be fascinating to see if the Supreme Court can improve the public’s opinion of them, though they have no political or employment repercussions for acting in controversial manners.

Supreme Court Allows Religious Appeal of a US Postal Worker

A CNN article I read this morning detailed the appeal of a U.S. Postal worker on religious grounds. He was contracted to deliver Amazon packages on Sundays, but he cited that his religious beliefs prevented him from working on Sundays.

Gerald Groff, after leaving the USPS due do a lack of “accommodating employment atmosphere with the USPS that would honor his religious beliefs”, sued the entity for violating Title VII. Title VII is a federal law that makes it unlawful to discriminate against an employee based on his religion.

A District Judge ruled against Groff as well as the 3rd US Circuit of Appeals. Groff and his attorney have now appealed to the Supreme Court, which has agreed to hear the argument.

It is a very fine line on this ruling because the USPS has the right to have Groff work if they can prove that allowing him Sundays off will be detrimental to business.

It seems like the Supreme Court will side with Groff because the USPS has not produced evidence yet of the burden to them if they adjust for Groff’s religious convictions.

There are calls to amend the law to make it clearer and more explicit so there is no more gray area.