''Jackson v. Birmingham Board of Education'', 544 U.S. 167 (2005), is a case in which the

United States Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...

held that retaliation against a person because that person has complained of

sex discrimination Sexism is prejudice or discrimination based on one's sex or gender. Sexism can affect anyone, but it primarily affects women and girls.There is a clear and broad consensus among academic scholars in multiple fields that sexism refers primari ...

is a form of intentional sex discrimination encompassed by

Title IX Title IX is the most commonly used name for the federal civil rights law in the United States that was enacted as part (Title IX) of the Education Amendments of 1972. It prohibits sex-based discrimination in any school or any other educat ...

.''Jackson v. Birmingham Bd. of Ed.'', .

Background

Roderick Jackson, a teacher in the

Birmingham, Alabama Birmingham ( ) is a city in the north central region of the U.S. state of Alabama. Birmingham is the seat of Jefferson County, Alabama's most populous county. As of the 2021 census estimates, Birmingham had a population of 197,575, down 1% fr ...

, public school system, brought suit against the Birmingham Board of Education alleging that the board retaliated against him because he complained about sex discrimination at

Ensley High School Ensley High School, located in the Ensley neighborhood of Birmingham, Alabama (United States), was founded in 1901 to serve the then-independent community of Ensley, which was centered on major plants operated by U.S. Steel and the American Cas ...

. Jackson, who had taught for six years prior in the Birmingham school district, was transferred to Ensley High School in August 1999 as a physical education teacher and girls' basketball coach. Jackson discovered that Ensley High School did not provide equal funding and access to athletic equipment and facilities for the girls' teams. In December 2000, Jackson began complaining of the unequal treatment, and began receiving negative evaluations. Jackson was removed as the girls' basketball coach in May 2001. The

United States District Court The United States district courts are the trial courts of the U.S. federal judiciary. There is one district court for each federal judicial district, which each cover one U.S. state or, in some cases, a portion of a state. Each district co ...

for the Northern District of Alabama dismissed Jackson's claims on the grounds that Title IX's private right of action does not include claims of retaliation. The

Court of Appeals A court of appeals, also called a court of appeal, appellate court, appeal court, court of second instance or second instance court, is any court of law that is empowered to hear an appeal of a trial court or other lower tribunal. In much of ...

for the

Eleventh Circuit The United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit (in case citations, 11th Cir.) is a federal court with appellate jurisdiction over the following U.S. district courts: * Middle District of Alabama * Northern District of Alabama * ...

affirmed the district court holding that Title IX does not provide a private right of action for retaliation.

Opinion of the Court

Justice Sandra Day O'Connor writing for a 5-4 majority held that retaliation against individuals because they complain of sex discrimination is intentional conduct that violates the terms of Title IX. O'Connor analogized the case to ''Sullivan v. Little Hunting Park, Inc.'', which held that 42 U.S.C. § 1982 provided a cause of action for retaliation for advocacy for African Americans. Because ''Sullivan'' interpreted a general prohibition on racial discrimination to cover retaliation against those who advocate the rights of groups protected by that prohibition, so too should Title IX be read to prohibit retaliation for advocacy on behalf of those subjected to sex discrimination.

Dissent

Justice

Clarence Thomas Clarence Thomas (born June 23, 1948) is an American jurist who serves as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. He was nominated by President George H. W. Bush to succeed Thurgood Marshall and has served since 1 ...

authored a dissent joined by Chief Justice Rehnquist,

Justice Scalia Antonin Gregory Scalia (; March 11, 1936 – February 13, 2016) was an American jurist who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1986 until his death in 2016. He was described as the intellectua ...

, and

Justice Kennedy Anthony McLeod Kennedy (born July 23, 1936) is an American lawyer and jurist who served as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1988 until his retirem ...

. Thomas argued that retaliatory conduct is not discrimination on the basis of sex under the plain terms of Title IX.''Jackson'', 544 U.S. at 184-85 (Thomas, J., dissenting).

References

External links

* {{caselaw source , case = ''Jackson v. Birmingham Bd. of Educ.'', {{Ussc, 544, 167, 2005, el=no , cornell =https://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/02-1672.ZS.html , justia =https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/544/167/ , oyez =https://www.oyez.org/cases/2004/02-1672 United States Supreme Court cases United States Supreme Court cases of the Rehnquist Court United States education case law 2005 in United States case law 2005 in education 2005 in Alabama Legal history of Alabama Implied statutory cause of action case law History of Birmingham, Alabama Education in Birmingham, Alabama Sexism

Background

Opinion of the Court

Dissent

See also

References

External links