Petition of the day

Issues: (1) Whether, to establish a prima facie case of discrimination in promotion or hiring, a plaintiff is required to show that the position in question was filled by someone outside his or her protected group; and (2) whether proof that a plaintiff was better qualified than the person hired or promoted is evidence of pretext only if the differences are so conclusive “that there can be no dispute among reasonable persons of impartial judgment that the plaintiff was clearly better qualified for the position at issue,” the avowedly “high evidentiary bar” applied by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit.