How the Supreme Court has changed on transgender rights since 2020

Penny Nance, of Concerned Women of America reacts to the Supreme Court decision banning transgender women from participating in women's sports on June 30.

Patsy Lynch/MediaPunch/IPx/AP

In 2020, when the Supreme Court declared that transgender workers were covered by federal anti-discrimination law, the opinion authored by Justice Neil Gorsuch marked a legal breakthrough.

The case extended Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act to gay and lesbian workers as well transgender employees. Gorsuch, who uses a textualist method, wrote that the law barring discrimination “because of … sex” covered a transgender woman who was fired from her position at a Michigan funeral home.

The Bostock v. Clayton County decision was a surprise at many levels, including that it was written by President Donald Trump’s first appointee to the court. Gorsuch was joined by conservative Justice John Roberts and the then-four liberal justices. That outcome was so resisted by right-wing interests that when Gorsuch’s vote leaked to some news media months before the decision was issued, conservative editorial writers tried to pressure Gorsuch to reconsider.

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