Ronnie Coleman v. Chevron Phillips Chemical Company, L.P.

No. 25-IN THE # Supreme Court of the United States RONNIE COLEMAN, Petitioner, v. CHEVRON PHILLIPS CHEMICAL COMPANY, L.P., Respondent. On Petition for a Writ of Certiorari to the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit PETITION FOR A WRIT OF CERTIORARI Ronnie Coleman Pro Se 3010 Deer Crossing Missouri City, Texas 77459 (281) 804-1423 ron3188@sbcglobal.net Petitioner Dated: September 29, 2025 QUESTIONS PRESENTED The lower courts are intractably divided on the quantum and character of evidence a plaintiff must produce to survive summary judgment in an employment discrimination case. The Fifth Circuit has erected a series of uniquely restrictive, judge-made evidentiary hurdles that conflict with the plain text of federal anti-discrimination statutes, contravene this Court's precedents, and foreclose meritorious claims from reaching a jury. The questions presented are: • Whether the Fifth Circuit's rigid, four-part test for dismissing discriminatory remarks as legally irrelevant "stray remarks" unless made by a final decision-maker—a test this Court implicitly rejected in Reeves v. Sanderson Plumbing Products, Inc., 530 U.S. 133 (2000)—impermissibly usurps the jury's role of weighing evidence and assessing credibility. • Whether an employer may escape liability when a supervisor with blatant discriminatory animus initiates and proximately causes a termination, simply because the final sign-off comes from an ostensibly unbiased official—a question that has divided the circuits and on which the Fifth Circuit's analysis is in direct tension with this Court's holding in Staub v. Proctor Hospital, 562 U.S. 411 (2011). • Whether the Fifth Circuit's requirement that plaintiffs produce a "nearly identical" comparator to prove disparate treatment imposes an evidentiary burden so severe that it functionally immunizes employers from liability, in direct conflict with the more flexible and realistic "all material respects" standard adopted by a majority of other circuits. PARTIES TO THE PROCEEDING Petitioner is Ronnie Coleman, who was the plaintiff-appellant below. Respondent is Chevron Phillips Chemical Company, L.P., which was the defendant­ appellee below. CORPORATE DISCLOSURE STATEMENT Pursuant to Rule 29.6 of the Rules of this Court, Petitioner Ronnie Coleman states that Respondent Chevron Phillips Chemical Company, L.P. is a limited partnership. It has no parent corporation, and no publicly held corporation owns 10% or more of its stock. TABLE OF CONTENTS