The U.S. Justice Department, under Attorney General Jeff Sessions, has filed a brief contending that the Federal appeals court that is currently hearing a case about workplace discrimination should not interpret Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 as prohibiting workplace discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, as it does on the basis of sex.
Previously, 50 companies including Microsoft Corp., Viacom Inc., and Google filed a brief for the plaintiff in the case, marking the first time major corporations have banded together to support an interpretation of Title VII as covering sexual orientation.
The Justice Department’s brief argues that such an interpretation would be too extreme, and abandon existing precedent.