Supreme Court takes up Georgia Title IX case

By Andrew Rice
The Center Square

The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to take up a case regarding alleged sex discrimination in Georgia public schools, the high court announced Monday.

The case, Crowther v. Board of Regents of University System of Georgia, focuses on two alleged instances of sex discrimination in the Georgia school system.

In one case, MaChelle Joseph, a former Georgia Institute of Technology women’s basketball coach, claims she was not given similar resources as the men’s team. In the second case, Thomas Crowther, an art professor at Augusta University, argues that the school conducted an improper investigation into sexual harassment claims before firing him.

Both individuals claim the schools engaged in Title IX employment discrimination in each process. A lower court argued that employees cannot automatically sue for sex discrimination employment claims.

The court said employees had a right to file lawsuits under Title VII, the federal law that protects from employment discrimination, which predates Title IX.

“The judiciary should surely not expand Title IX’s judicially created cause of action where it would displace the actual comprehensive scheme for employment discrimination that Congress expressly created under Title VII,” lawyers for Georgia’s board of regents wrote to the high court.

However, Joseph and Crowther argue this interpretation disadvantages employees at public institutions. Lawyers for the two employees said Title VII and Title IX can both address sex discrimination issues.

“Congress expressly considered and rejected a provision that would have made Title VII an exclusive remedy,” lawyers for Joseph and Crowther wrote.

Across the country, courts of appeal are deeply divided on this issue. Some believe Title IX protections should be extended, while others oppose it.

Justices on the high court will likely hear arguments in the fall to resolve the lower court split over employment discrimination provisions.