pretext

56 cases — ← All topics

Case Title Lower Court Docketed Status Flags Tags Question Presented
25-978 Adrianna Kondilis, et al. v. City of Chicago, Illinois Seventh Circuit 2026-02-18 Pending discovery due-process first-amendment pretext religious-discrimination title-vii 1. Whether the First, Second, Third, and Tenth Circuits are correct that courts must permit discovery when public employees allege the government's st…
25A570 Hien Thi Nguyen v. John Phelan, Secretary of the Navy Ninth Circuit 2025-11-14 Application agency-action employment-discrimination pretext protected-activity retaliation title-vii Question not identified.
24-1237 Hans Goerz v. Troy E. Meink, Secretary of the Air Force Fifth Circuit 2025-06-04 Denied Response Waived civil-rights-act discovery pretext retaliation summary-judgment title-vii 1. Whether the District Judge may dismiss the complaint on summary judgment without requiring answer from the respondent, without authorizing discover…
24-7284 Charles L. Burgett v. Scott Bessent, Secretary of the Treasury Eighth Circuit 2025-05-27 Denied Response WaivedIFP employment-discrimination pretext prima-facie-case standard-of-review summary-judgment title-vii Whether the lower courts applied the correct summary judgment standard of review for prima facie and for pretext in assessing a case of employment dis…
24A838 Phillip Frazier v. American Airlines, Inc., a Delaware Corporation, et al. Ninth Circuit 2025-03-03 Presumed Complete age-discrimination fair-employment-and-housing-act pretext prima-facie-case reduction-in-force summary-judgment Question not identified.
24-546 Karin Weng v. Julie A. Su, Acting Secretary of Labor District of Columbia 2024-11-15 Denied Response Waived comparator-evidence disciplinary-charges due-process employment-discrimination pretext summary-judgment This petition presents three questions pertaining to an employment discrimination plaintiff's evidentiary burden in summary judgment proceedings to pr…
23-1347 Fang Zeng v. Mingan Chen, et al. Ninth Circuit 2024-06-26 Denied burden-shifting civil-procedure civil-procedure 23-1346" default-judgment default-judgments due-process employment-discrimination foreign-defendant foreign-defendants Is the McDonnell Douglas framework applicable to m mixed-motive personal-jurisdiction pretext service-of-process substituted-service summary-judgment title-vii In these federal cases Plaintiffs could not locate Defendant in California for personal service of process, because at all times Defendant was a res…
23-1346 The Golub Corporation v. Elaine Bart Second Circuit 2024-06-26 Denied burden-of-proof burden-shifting employment-discrimination mcdonnell-douglas mixed-motive pretext summary-judgment title-vii 1. Is the McDonnell Douglas framework applicable to mixed motive discrimination cases, and if so, how are the three stages of that framework to be for…
23-1301 Ben Brinkmann, et al. v. Town of Southold, New York Second Circuit 2024-06-13 Denied Amici (5)Relisted (3) bad-faith bad-faith-taking constitutional-protection pretext property-rights public-use section-1983 state-federal-split takings-clause The Second Circuit, in a 2-1 decision over a dissent by Judge Menashi, held that the Public Use Clause does not prohibit taking property when the asse…
23A837 Centura Health Corporation, a Colorado Non-Profit Corporation, et al. v. Barbara Morris, M.D. Colorado 2024-03-12 Presumed Complete church-autonomy declaratory-judgment employment-termination first-amendment pretext religious-organization (1) Under the church-autonomy doctrine, can a jury determine whether a doctor violated her employer's policies, where the doctor's underlying conduct …
23-6528 Charles L. Burgett v. Martin J. O'Malley, Commissioner of Social Security Eighth Circuit 2024-01-22 Denied Response WaivedIFP 42-usc-2000e civil-rights due-process employment-discrimination pretext prima-facie prima-facie-case summary-judgment title-vii 1. Whether the Court of Appeals applied the correct summary judgment standard on prima facie and on pretext in assessing a case of employment discrimi…
23-6448 Stephen Dudley Brunson v. United States Fifth Circuit 2024-01-10 Denied Response WaivedIFP 4th-amendment arrest drug-interdiction fourth-amendment inevitable-discovery law-enforcement pretext probable-cause search-and-seizure traffic-stop Texas DPS Troopers stopped Stephen Brunson because his license plate was expired. They had planned, due to a tip they received, to ask for consent to …
22-7185 Brandon Scott Donaldson v. Tennessee Tennessee 2023-04-03 Denied Response WaivedIFP batson-challenge batson-v-kentucky but-for-cause civil-rights fair-cross-section jury-selection peremptory-challenges peremptory-strike pretext race-neutral race-neutral-explanation systematic-underrepresentation 1. The State used a peremptory challenge on the first Black juror in the jury box. When required to articulate his reasons for the strike, the prosecu…
22-917 Nayonn Gray v. Autozoners, LLC, et al. Sixth Circuit 2023-03-21 Denied Response Waived 42-usc-1981 civil-rights contract contract-services discriminatory-intent material-fact pretext racial-discrimination section-1981 summary-judgment Whether summary judgment should be granted when there are genuine issues of material fact as to whether a defendant's refusal to provide services requ…
22-713 Shannon Gladden v. The Procter & Gamble Distributing, LLC Eleventh Circuit 2023-01-31 Denied Response Waived bostock bostock-interpretation but-for but-for-causation circuit-split civil-rights employment-discrimination evidence-evaluation motivating-factor pretext pretext-analysis 1) Does the but-for reasoning referenced in Bostock apply to McDonnell Douglas pretext analysis?: In the decision below, the Eleventh Circuit appears …
22-649 Jacinta Downing v. Abbott Laboratories, et al. Seventh Circuit 2023-01-12 Denied Response Waived burden-of-proof circumstantial-evidence civil-rights discrimination employment employment-discrimination judicial-interpretation pretext seventh-circuit Whether the Seventh Circuit defeated the fundamental holding of this Court's decision in Costa when it affirmed the district court's refusal to allow …
22-6412 Nicholas Conlan v. Costco Wholesale Corporation Ninth Circuit 2022-12-29 Denied Response WaivedIFP americans-with-disabilities-act disability-accommodation employment-discrimination interactive-process jury-trial pretext reasonable-accommodation service-animal service-dog workplace-accommodation Did Costco violate the Americans with Disabilities Amendment Act by terminating the interactive process with ambiguities they had and not directly eng…
22-5944 Charles L. Burgett v. Janet L. Yellen, Secretary of the Treasury Eighth Circuit 2022-10-31 Denied Response WaivedIFP 42-usc-2000e employment-discrimination pretext prima-facie summary-judgment title-vii 1. Whether the Court of Appeals applied the correct summary judgment standard on prima facie and on pretext in assessing a case of employment discrimi…
22-211 Kelly Vandenberg v. University of Saint Thomas, aka University of St. Thomas (Houston) Fifth Circuit 2022-09-08 Denied burden-of-proof civil-procedure employment-discrimination pretext pretext-standard prima-facie-case reeves-v-sanderson rule-50 rule-56 summary-judgment 1. Do the exceptions in Reeves apply under Rule 56 identically as they do under Rule 50 when the Court prohibits judges from weighing evidence and det…
22-66 Keith Kreszowski v. FCA US, LLC, et al. Sixth Circuit 2022-07-25 Denied Response Waived americans-with-disabilities-act causal-connection disability-discrimination disability-perception job-relatedness medical-exam medical-examination pretext pretext-standard retaliation-claim summary-judgment This case involves a consideration of issues involving claims under the Americans with Disabilities Act Amendments Act ("ADAAA"). The extent and abili…
21-1421 Valerie Kline v. Kiran Ahuja, Director, Office of Personnel Management District of Columbia 2022-05-04 Denied Response Waived appellate-circuit-split civil-rights employment-discrimination fruit-of-poisonous-tree mcdonnell-douglas pretext prima-facie unlawful-detail Whether an unlawful detail into a position prior to officially filling it is relevant to raise an inference of pretext, when the prima facie stage und…
21-1112 Sonya Gorbea v. Verizon New York, Inc. Second Circuit 2022-02-11 Denied ada constructive-termination employment-discrimination job-abandonment pretext ptsd reasonable-accommodation reasonable-accommodations title-vii 1. How can Verizon dereliction of duty and reckless disregard for the necessary medical treatment be acceptable under the ADA/Title VII in much as not…
21-647 Janet Perdue v. Sanofi-Aventis U.S. LLC Fourth Circuit 2021-11-02 Denied ada-accommodation ada-reasonable-accommodation disability-discrimination job-sharing neutral-work-rule pretext reasonable-accommodation summary-judgment us-airways-v-barnett work-rule 1. The Panel held that a neutral company work rule requiring "managerial approval" before a job-share position is even created trumps the ADA's provis…
21-5433 Alex White v. California California 2021-08-20 Denied Response WaivedIFP civil-rights fourth-amendment law-enforcement mistake-of-law pretext pretext-stop reasonable-mistake traffic-stop vehicle-code vehicle-equipment 1. Where police officers admitted that their equipment violation stop of the vehicle in which petitioner was a passenger was a pretext to conduct gang…
21-138 Luz González-Bermúdez v. Abbott Laboratories P.R. Inc., et al. First Circuit 2021-08-02 Denied adverse-employment-action age-discrimination comparator-evidence employer-defense employment employment-discrimination jury-inference jury-verdict pretext retaliation retaliation-claim A jury returned a verdict for petitioner on her age discrimination and retaliation claims. The district court upheld the verdict, finding that a reaso…
20-8379 Anthony Donell Johnson v. Rowan Helping Ministries Fourth Circuit 2021-06-22 Denied IFP civil-rights district-court due-process employment evidence-review job-performance performance-evaluation pretext summary-judgment termination workplace-dispute Question not identified.
20-1431 Charmell Brown v. Alex Jones, Acting Warden Seventh Circuit 2021-04-13 Denied Response Waived batson-framework batson-v-kentucky jury-selection peremptory-strike pretext prima-facie-case prosecutorial-discretion racial-discrimination Whether, at Batson's first step and in the absence of any explanation from the prosecutor, a court may rely on factors apparent in the record to expla…
20-1214 Fred J. Eychaner v. City of Chicago, Illinois Illinois 2021-03-03 Denied Amici (5)Response RequestedResponse WaivedRelisted (4) blight due-process eminent-domain future-blight kelo-precedent kelo-v-city-of-new-london pretext property-rights public-use public-use-clause takings takings-clause 1. Is the possibility of futwre blight a permissible basis for a government to take property in an unblighted area and give it to a private party for …
20-7289 Bobby Campbell, Jr. v. Bottling Group, LLC Second Circuit 2021-03-01 Denied Response WaivedIFP 7th-amendment civil-rights comparator-analysis employment-discrimination mcdonnell-douglas pretext seventh-amendment similarly-situated summary-judgment title-vii 1. Does the 7th Amendment to the United States Constitution prohibit courts from measuring degrees of similarity to grant summary judgment on the fact…
20-808 Johnny Duane Miles v. California California 2020-12-15 Denied Amici (1) batson-challenge batson-claim comparative-juror-analysis death-penalty jury-selection peremptory-challenges pretext prosecutorial-discretion racial-discrimination During jury selection for Johnny Duane Miles's capital murder trial, the prosecutor used his peremptory challenges to remove every Black prospective j…
20-792 Melinda Beazley Pearson v. City of Augusta, Georgia, et al. Eleventh Circuit 2020-12-11 Denied civil-rights due-process employment-discrimination investigation loudermill-hearing neutral-decisionmaker pretext pretext-analysis public-employment summary-judgment Was it error for the panel to affirm a grant of summary judgment, finding due process had been provided where a challenged demotion had been effected …
20-5685 Ruben Sanchez v. Steven Silva, et al. First Circuit 2020-09-14 Denied Response WaivedIFP batson-challenge batson-v-kentucky equal-protection fourteenth-amendment jury-selection peremptory-challenge pretext racial-discrimination standard-of-review (1) Whether, in an analysis under Batson v Kentucky, 476 U.S. 79 (1986), the prosecutor's peremptory challenge of Hispanic prospective jurors was just…
20-5476 Derek Tyler Horton v. Alabama Alabama 2020-08-25 Denied Response WaivedIFP 4th-amendment civil-rights constitutional-rights duty-to-investigate fourth-amendment law-enforcement lawful-arrest pretext pretextual-arrest probable-cause warrant-validity 1.) Whether a police officer's reason for acting , in at least some circumstances , should factor into the Fourth Amendment inquiry?* 2.) Whether t…
19-8717 Lance E. Felton v. City of Jackson, Mississippi Fifth Circuit 2020-06-17 Denied Response WaivedIFP americans-with-disabilities-act civil-rights disability-accommodation disability-rights employment-discrimination interactive-process post-traumatic-stress-disorder pretext reasonable-accommodation termination A. While a Patrol Lieutenant employed with the City of Jackson, Mississippi ("the city"), Lance Felton ("Felton") suffered post-traumatic stress disor…
19-1295 Rao S. Mandalapu v. Temple University Hospital, et al. Third Circuit 2020-05-15 Denied Response Waived 42-usc-1981 civil-rights civil-rights-act employment-discrimination pretext reeves-v-sanderson retaliation summary-judgment title-vii Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (42 U.S.C. §§ 2000e-2-3) and the Civil Rights Act of 1866 (42 U.S.C. § 1981) prevent discrimination and reta…
19-7857 Chance Dechristian Adams v. Minnesota Minnesota 2020-03-04 Denied Response WaivedIFP batson-challenge batson-v-kentucky circuit-split equal-protection jury-selection peremptory-strike peremptory-strikes pretext prosecutorial-discretion racial-discrimination standard-of-review When a peremptory strike of a prospective juror is challenged under Batson v. Kentucky, 476 U.S. 79 (1986), and a prosecutor offers multiple reasons f…
19-7241 William Gene Cox, Jr. v. Louisiana Louisiana 2020-01-10 Denied Response WaivedIFP armed-assault civil-rights confidential-informant confidential-informants constitutional-rights due-process fourth-amendment law-enforcement pretext search-and-seizure unreasonable-search Should law enforcement be allowed to utilize armed assaults by confidential informants as pretext for circumventing the Fourth Amendment guarantee aga…
19-796 Michael Cowels, et al. v. Federal Bureau of Investigation, et al. First Circuit 2019-12-20 Denied Response Waived administrative-procedure-act agency-review arbitrary-and-capricious civil-rights dna-profile due-process fbi-determination federal-bureau-of-investigation national-dna-index-system pretext pretextual-basis pretextual-determination 1. Whether a determination by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (the "FBI") that a DNA profile is ineligible for upload to the National DNA Index Sy…
19-724 Keith Y. Arakaki v. Megan J. Brennan, Postmaster General, et al. Ninth Circuit 2019-12-09 Denied Response Waived adverse-action civil-procedure civil-rights employment-discrimination pretext retaliation summary-judgment title-vii (i) Whether the four discrete events Petitioner raised in opposing Respondents' Motion for Summary Judgment constituted adverse actions in accordance …
19-6859 Michael A. Green v. United States Eighth Circuit 2019-12-04 Denied Response WaivedIFP 4th-amendment abandoned-vehicle community-caretaking criminal-procedure fourth-amendment inventory-search investigatory-motive law-enforcement-motive pretext search-and-seizure tow-policy vehicle-impoundment vehicle-search This case involves the impoundment and inventory search of a disabled vehicle by a law enforcement officer with an explicitly stated investigatory mot…
19-500 Ameer Siddiqui v. NetJets Aviation, Inc. Eleventh Circuit 2019-10-18 Denied Response RequestedRelisted (2) but-for but-for-test causation-standard civil-rights comparator-analysis comparators employment-discrimination pretext pretext-evaluation reasonable-inference retaliation retaliation-claims section-1981 summary-judgment title-vii 1. Are plaintiffs who bring retaliation claims under either Title VII or Section 1981 subjected to the strenuous "but for" test, or is a reasonable in…
19-233 Eryon Luke v. CPlace Forest Park SNF, L.L.C., dba Nottingham Regional Rehab Center Fifth Circuit 2019-08-22 Denied circuit-split civil-rights comparator comparator-standard due-process employment-discrimination mcdonnell-douglas pregnancy-discrimination pretext prima-facie prima-facie-case title-vii The two questions presented are: 1. Whether the analysis applied by the Fifth Circuit as articulated in the Pre-Young decision of Brady vs. Office of…
19-5139 Alauna Gaye Morris v. United States Eighth Circuit 2019-07-10 Denied Response WaivedIFP 4th-amendment civil-rights fourth-amendment impound inventory-search investigative-stop law-enforcement policy pretext search-and-seizure unreasonable-search vehicle-impoundment Whether the Government meets its burden of proving the existence of a clear written policy for searching impounded vehicles when there is a written po…
19-49 Michael Simons v. Boston Scientific, et al. Third Circuit 2019-07-08 Denied Response Waived circuit-split employment-discrimination fmla FMLA-retaliation mcdonnell-douglas pretext pretext-standard prima-facie retaliation summary-judgment temporal-proximity 1. Whether, in an FMLA wrongful discharge retaliation claim, the McDonnell Douglas three-prong analysis is appropriate, where the Circuit Courts have …
18-9077 Cecelia D. Walton v. North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services, Disability Determination Services Fourth Circuit 2019-05-01 Denied IFP admissibility civil-rights eeoc eeoc-determination eeoc-reasonable-cause-determination employment-discrimination federal-rules-of-evidence federal-rules-of-evidence-403 pretext retaliation summary-judgment title-vii workplace-discrimination With regards to EEOC Reasonable Charge Determinations issued pursuant to the EEOC investigation conducted, is the Reasonable Cause Determination autom…
18-1089 Annette Benjamin v. Felder Services, L.L.C., dba Oxford Health and Rehab Center Fifth Circuit 2019-02-21 Denied age-discrimination burden-of-proof civil-rights direct-evidence disparate-treatment employment-act employment-discrimination employment-law poor-performance pretext summary-judgment workplace-discrimination In a case brought under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, where a long-term, older employee is displaced by a younger employee, may a court pr…
18-7601 Joseph Chhim v. Golden Nuggett Lake Charles, L.L.C. Fifth Circuit 2019-01-28 Denied Response WaivedRelisted (2)IFP age-discrimination civil-rights computer-assessment due-process eligibility-requirements employment-discrimination equal-protection facility-supervisor hiring-practices pretext pretext-claim Did Defendant Golden Nugget discriminate against Plaintiff when it hired 300 employees with different eligibility requirements based on a discriminato…
18-634 Aed El-Saba v. University of South Alabama Eleventh Circuit 2018-11-15 Denied appellate-review civil-procedure employment-discrimination national-origin-discrimination pretext pretext-analysis retaliation summary-judgment supervisory-power termination Under Rule 10(a) when the trial court changes the language of the stated discharge reason; substitutes another document as the focus of pretext analys…
18-624 Jinae Rasko v. New York City Administration for Children's Services Second Circuit 2018-11-14 Denied Response Waived adverse-employment-action causal-connection civil-rights corrective-action direct-evidence employment-discrimination hostile-work-environment pretext retaliation title-vii I. Whether an employer is liable for discrimination under Title VII, when: There are DIRECT EVIDENCES of discrimination, including the evidence of PRE…
18-6644 Jingyuan Feng v. Sheena Komenda, et al. Eighth Circuit 2018-11-08 Denied Response WaivedIFP adverse-employment-action employment-discrimination employment-discrimination,civil-rights,title-vii,p equal-employment performance-evaluation pretext retaliation title-vii Whether the falsified employment performance statements are pretexts or legitimate reasons for the employment decisions. Whether exceptionally placin…
18-6501 Carl A. Robertson v. Interactive College of Technology, et al. Eleventh Circuit 2018-10-30 Denied Response WaivedIFP cat's-paw-theory civil-procedure civil-rights due-process employment-discrimination evidentiary-rules mcdonnell-douglas-framework pretext pro-se pro-se-litigant scheduling-order standing summary-judgment title-vii Based on the Supreme Court of the United States precedents: Should a 'pro se litigant's" [or any litigant's] First Proposed "Heightened" Amended Com…
18-6422 Larry Norton v. United States Seventh Circuit 2018-10-24 Denied Response WaivedIFP constitutional-rights exclusionary-rule fourth-amendment mistake-of-law perjury police-misconduct pretext pretextual-stop search search-and-seizure traffic-stop Petitioner Larry Norton is serving a sentence of life incarceration which originated from evidence seized after a traffic stop for speeding in a const…
18-353 Tate Clark v. Southwest Airlines Company Fifth Circuit 2018-09-18 Denied Response Waived anderson-v-liberty-lobby appellate-review causation-standard civil-procedure district-court evidence-standard factual-inferences fmla-retaliation genuine-issue-for-trial judicial-review mixed-motive pretext prima-facie-case standard-of-review summary-judgment Therefore the question presented is whether the District Court and Court of Appeals failed to view the evidence presented in conjunction with Responde…
18-5987 Ajohntae Hammond v. United States Tenth Circuit 2018-09-14 Denied Response WaivedIFP 4th-amendment circuit-split fourth-amendment officer-safety police-discretion pretext probable-cause qualified-immunity reasonable-suspicion search-and-seizure totality-of-circumstances totality-of-the-circumstances warrantless-search When deciding whether a police officer's fear for his safety justified a warrantless search of a person not suspected of any crime, may courts limit t…
18-5713 Leonard E. Dunning v. Nancy M. Ware, Director, Court Services and Offender Supervision Agency District of Columbia 2018-08-22 Denied Response WaivedIFP appellate-review civil-rights discrimination due-process employment employment-discrimination intentional-discrimination mcdonnell-douglas motion-reconsideration pretext reasonable-jury summary-judgment Whether Appellate Court erred in denying Appellant's motion for reconsideration of the U.S. District Court ruling in issuing the granting of summary j…
18-28 Robert J. Balding v. Sunbelt Steel Texas, Inc., et al. Tenth Circuit 2018-07-05 Denied ada-protections adverse-action americans-with-disabilities-act civil-rights due-process employment employment-discrimination family-and-medical-leave-act family-medical-leave-act fmla-rights pretext protected-leave retaliation workplace-retaliation Whether an employer violates an employee's FMLA or ADA rights by interfering with, retaliating against, denying accommodations, and taking adverse act…