Staub v. Proctor Hospital

Docket No.	Op. Below	Argument	Opinion	Vote	Author	Term
09-400	7th Cir.	Nov 2, 2010 Tr.	Mar 1, 2011	8-0	Scalia	OT 2010

Holding: If a supervisor performs an act motivated by bias against the military that the supervisor intends to cause an adverse employment action, and if that act is the proximate cause of the ultimate employment action, then the employer can be held liable under a federal statute that prohibits employment discrimination against members of the armed services. (Kagan, J., recused).

Plain English Holding: If a supervisor, motivated by bias, takes action intended to get an employee fired, and if that act actually causes the employee to get fired, the employee can sue the company for employment discrimination, even if the biased supervisor is not the final decision maker and even if the final decision maker is unbiased.

Judgment: Reversed, 8-0, in an opinion by Justice Antonin Scalia on March 1, 2011. (Kagan, J., recused).

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The Supreme Court released additional orders from the January 11 conference on Monday; the justices called for the views of the U.S. solicitor general in CSX Transportation Inc. v. Alabama Department of Revenue, Alabama Department of Revenue v. CSX Transportation Inc. and Toshiba Corp. v. Automotive Industries Pension Trust Fund.
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  (1) Whether a 93-year-old memorial to the fallen of World War I is unconstitutional merely because it is shaped like a cross; (2) whether the constitutionality of a passive display incorporating religious symbolism should be assessed under the tests articulated in Lemon v. Kurtzman, Van Orden v. Perry, Town of Greece v. Galloway or some other test; and (3) whether, if the test from Lemon v. Kurtzman applies, the expenditure of funds for the routine upkeep and maintenance of a cross-shaped war memorial, without more, amounts to an excessive entanglement with religion in violation of the First Amendment.
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Staub v. Proctor Hospital

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