Summary of facts: The State of Michigan took over a health care system and imposed a “Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion” regime that required employees to perform “gender reassignment” procedures and affirm notions like “gender fluidity.” A physician assistant, a devout Christian, requested a religious exemption from these requirements on the basis of her sincerely held religious beliefs. Her supervisors told her that “she could not take the Bible or her religious beliefs to work with her” and described her beliefs as “evil” and “equivalent to discrimination.” She sued her employer in federal court for violations of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. The defendants filed a motion to dismiss her lawsuit. The district court denied the motion, holding that if the plaintiff’s allegations were true, the state had violated her First Amendment and Title VII rights. The defendants then filed a motion to dismiss the case and to compel arbitration, citing the employment contract signed by the plaintiff. The district court granted the motion and the plaintiff appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.

RFI’s position: States should not be permitted to use procedural tricks to thwart people’s efforts to vindicate their Constitutional and statutory rights. Such tactics undermine our constitutional system of government because they block the very means that the founders and Congress put in place to protect the people from arbitrary government action. Civil rights claims cannot be resolved through arbitration because only federal courts, not arbitration forums, have the power to fashion the broad relief necessary to effectively remedy civil rights violations.

Read the amicus brief here.