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Speaker 1: Well, now it's time for our daily Bloombergy Law Brief,

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Speaker 1: exploring legal issues in the news. And Today Bloomberg Lahost

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Speaker 1: Jun Grosso and Michael Best discussed the Trump administration's opposition

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Speaker 1: to efforts to band workplace discrimination against gay and lesbian employees.

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Speaker 1: They speak with Michael selm Your, professor at George Washington

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Speaker 1: University Law School, and Anthony christ a professor at Chicago

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Speaker 1: Kent College of Law. Michael, let's start with the basics.

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Speaker 1: What is the issue facing the second Circuit under Title seven?

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Speaker 1: The issue, which is one that has been coming up

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Speaker 1: in a series of cases recently, is whether Title seven,

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Speaker 1: the primary statute that governs discrimination in the workplace and

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Speaker 1: prohibit discrimination based on race and gender, Nashal origin, religion.

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Speaker 1: The question is whether that statute, the prohibition on discrimination

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Speaker 1: based on sex discrimination extends to prohibition on discrimination based

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Speaker 1: on sexual orientation. And there has been two recent Court

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Speaker 1: of Appeals decisions and they have been split, and then

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Speaker 1: this second Circuit case is the most recent and becoming

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Speaker 1: the most prominent of those cases. Anthony, You know, in

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Speaker 1: the past of courts a generally ruled, hadn't they that

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Speaker 1: that in fact, sexual orientation was not protected by this law,

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Speaker 1: and that was because they said that Congress hadn't intended

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Speaker 1: to cover it. Why have things changed, Well, I think

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Speaker 1: a number of things have changed. So of course, there's

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Speaker 1: a landmark decision plorality decision from the Supreme Court called

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Speaker 1: Price Waterhouse, which basically said that people who don't conform

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Speaker 1: to gender norms and gender stereotypes have an actional e

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Speaker 1: caause of action or tuttle seven um. And since then,

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Speaker 1: we've had a tremendous, uh, ground swell of change and

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Speaker 1: how we understand sexual orientation and how sex orientation fits

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Speaker 1: within the law, both in constitutional cases and statutory cases.

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Speaker 1: And I think we've come to a better understanding that

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Speaker 1: sex orientation discrimination is uh inexorably linked to sex discrimination. Michael,

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Speaker 1: What is the argument that Justice Department has made? King,

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Speaker 1: But the Dufin Department is making a relatively straightforward argument

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Speaker 1: that employers have been making for some time, uh, and

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Speaker 1: that is that the statue was not intended at the

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Speaker 1: time it was passed in nineteen sixty four to include

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Speaker 1: sexual orientation as one of its prohibitions. Uh. And they

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Speaker 1: also look at some of the statutory language, although that's

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Speaker 1: not as clear cut up an argument for them, but

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Speaker 1: so their their argument is mostly that this is something

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Speaker 1: Congress should handle, and Congress has considered over the years

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Speaker 1: but has failed to include as part of Title seven.

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Speaker 1: And that's Michael sell Me, a professor at George Washington

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Speaker 1: University Law School, and Anthony christ a professor at Chicago

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Speaker 1: Kent College of Law, speaking at Bloomberg Law. Host Student

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Speaker 1: Grosso and Michael Best. You can listen to Bloomberg Law

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Speaker 1: weekdays at one pm Wall Street Time here on Bloomberg

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Speaker 1: Radio Now. Among the top legal stories from Bloomberg Law.

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Speaker 1: In New York, a jury begins deliberations today in the

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Speaker 1: fraud trial of Martin Screlly. Prosecutors accused Screlly of looting

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Speaker 1: his own pharmaceutical company to pay back investors in two

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Speaker 1: failed hedge funds that he ran. The defense insays that

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Speaker 1: there are no victims because everyone got their original investments

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Speaker 1: back and made hefty profits. In Washington State, a federal

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Speaker 1: judge is ruled that a jury should hear the case

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Speaker 1: of two psychologists who helped his on the CIA's harsh

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Speaker 1: interrogation methods used in the War on Terror. American Civil

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Speaker 1: Liberties Union brought the suit on behalf of three former

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Speaker 1: detainees who claimed the psychologists where the architects of what

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Speaker 1: became the CIA's torture program after the nine eleven attacks.

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Speaker 1: In Spain, soccer superstar Cristiano Ronaldo is doing court today

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Speaker 1: over a tax evasion claims. Prosecutors accused him of evading

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Speaker 1: more than seventeen million dollars in taxes. Let's say Ronaldo

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Speaker 1: hid income generated in Spain from his image rights. Another

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Speaker 1: soccer star, Lionel Messi, was found guilty of the same

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Speaker 1: offense last year, and thus this morning's Bloomberg laumbree. If

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Speaker 1: you can find more legal news at Bloomberg Law dot

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Speaker 1: com and Bloomberg Bienna dot com. Attorneys will find exceptional

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Speaker 1: legal research and business development tools there as well. Visit

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Speaker 1: Bloomberg Law dot com and Bloomberg Bienna dot com for

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Speaker 1: more information