On June 15, 2020, in Bostock v. Clayton County, Georgia, the United States Supreme Court by a 6-3 majority ruled: “An employer who fires an individual merely for being gay or transgender violates Title VII.” Title VII is part of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which is federal law. Although the Bostock decision is a nondiscrimination case, not a religious freedom case, commentators across the political spectrum agree that it is likely to have implications for religious freedom.

In order to understand both the ruling and its potential implications for religious freedom, I’ve invited Eric N. Kniffin to join me for a Facebook Live conversation about the question, “How does the Supreme Court’s Title VII decision affect religious freedom?” 

Kniffin is a partner at Lewis Roca Rothgerber Christie LLP, working in the firm’s Religious Institutions Practice Group. His practice focuses on ‎religious liberty cases in the trial and appellate levels, as well as commercial litigation matters. He has ‎represented clients in high-profile religious liberty cases, including nationwide litigation challenging ‎the Health and Human Services Mandate. he has also successfully represented the United ‎States in three cases before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.

Before joining the firm, Kniffin worked as a trial attorney for the United States Department of ‎Justice practicing in the Civil Rights Division. He managed investigations of correctional facilities and ‎police departments and brought enforcement actions for housing discrimination under the Fair ‎Housing Act. Most recently, he served as Legal Counsel for Becket Law in Washington, D.C, where he represented clients in litigation at trial and in federal ‎appellate courts.‎