Caryn Devins Strickland v. Nancy L. Moritz, Judge, In Her Official Capacity as Chair of the Judicial Conference Committee on Judicial Resources, et al.

Congress has extended Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to nearly all public and private employers, affording employees robust procedural protections and meaningful remedies for workplace discrimination and harassment. Federal judiciary employees, however, are excluded from Title VII and must instead pursue such claims through the judiciary’s Employment Dispute Resolution (EDR) Plan—an internal system administered by the judiciary itself. Moreover, the Congressional Accountability Act of 1995 and subsequent policy of the Judicial Conference of the United States provide that it is judiciary policy to apply the same protections to judiciary employees as are available to private sector and government employees under Title VII. The questions presented are:

1. Whether the Fifth Amendment’s Due Process and Equal Protection clauses permit the federal judiciary to require its employees to adjudicate sexual harassment and employment discrimination claims through an internal system that lacks an independent decisionmaker, meaningful procedural safeguards, and adequate remedies, rather than affording the essential protections available under Title VII.

2. Whether a circuit’s EDR Plan that does not comport with Title VII’s fundamental principles violates the Congressional Accountability Act and