Can Abercrombie Refuse to Hire a Muslim Teen Who Wears a Hijab? And Other Cases the Supreme Court Will Take Up This Year.

Photo Credit: NewscomThe Supreme Court’s 2014-2015 term officially begins next Monday. On Thursday, the justices added eleven cases to their docket. Here are the noteworthy additions:

EEOC v. Abercrombie & Fitch Stores: Under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, employers may not discriminate based on race, color, religion or national origin in the hiring or firing of employees. Thus, employers must reasonably accommodate the religious practices of their employees or prospective employees, unless such an accommodation would cause an “undue hardship.” The EEOC filed suit against Abercrombie for refusing to hire a Muslim teenager who applied to be a model because wearing a hijab conflicted with the store’s style guidelines for their models. The issue before the Supreme Court is whether Abercrombie is liable under Title VII only if it received explicit notice from the job applicant that their style guidelines conflicted with her religious beliefs.

Ohio v. Clark: The Sixth Amendment’s Confrontation Clause requires that a criminal defendant has the right to “be confronted with the witnesses against him.” In every state, teachers have a legal obligation to report suspected child abuse to the authorities. Are any statements made by a child to a teacher considered “testimonial,” making them subject to the Confrontation Clause at trial? In this case, the trial court determined that the child victim could not testify and admitted evidence of the child’s statements to his teacher, but an appellate court reversed, finding this violated the defendant’s constitutional rights. This presents the Supreme Court with an opportunity to further define the contours of the Confrontation Clause.

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