Supreme Court Rejects Additional Burdens For Reverse Discrimination Plaintiffs

On June 5, 2025, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously agreed that reverse discrimination plaintiffs are not required to produce additional evidence at the outset of their case to proceed with their claims. Ames v. Ohio Department of Youth Services places plaintiffs who belong to traditional majority groups on equal footing with plaintiffs from all other protected classes.

This decision was not a surprise—we previously covered the oral argument preceding the decision, in which all Justices seemed to agree that the "background circumstances" requirement levied on reverse discrimination plaintiffs was unlawful. This requirement obligated plaintiffs who belonged to a traditional majority class to produce evidence that their employer was the "unusual" one "who discriminates against the majority" before their case could proceed, a burden not placed on plaintiffs from minority classes.