Orrick Appellate Team Backs Civil Rights Groups in Major LGBTQ Rights Cases in U.S. Supreme Court

July.08.2019

An Orrick team led by appellate partner Danny Rubens has filed an amicus brief on behalf of a coalition of 59 civil rights organizations in support of the employees in three closely-watched U.S. Supreme Court cases focusing on LGBTQ rights that will be argued in October.

The brief for the coalition, which is led by the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under the Law and the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, was filed in Bostock v. Clayton County, Georgia, Altitude Express, Inc. v. Zarda, and R.G. & G.R. Harris Funeral Homes, Inc. v. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission & Aimee Stephens. The three cases call for the Court to decide whether employment discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or transgender status is permitted under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

The coalition’s amicus brief argues that workplace discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and transgender status violates Title VII prohibition against sex-based discrimination. Approaching the issue from a racial justice perspective, the brief explains that Title VII’s expansive text, alongside the statute’s storied history of rooting out pervasive workplace discrimination, compels treating LGBTQ discrimination as unlawful. Recognition of that reality is essential to safeguarding the job security and economic stability of millions of LGBTQ persons in America, especially those most often subjected to discrimination in the workplace: LGBTQ people of color. Accordingly, the brief argues, Title VII’s settled doctrines protecting against racial discrimination must be applied with full strength to claims of sex-based discrimination, including the LGBTQ employees’ claims in these three cases.

The brief is the latest example of Orrick’s pro bono efforts in the appellate courts in support of LGBTQ rights. The firm previously weighed in with amicus briefs in the U.S. Supreme Court’s Masterpiece Cakeshop case, as well as more recently the Arlene’s Flowers case in the Washington Supreme Court.

In addition to Danny, associates Samuel Harbourt and Ethan Fallon contributed to the latest amicus effort in the Supreme Court.

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Daniel A. Rubens パートナー, Supreme Court & Appellate

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Daniel A. Rubens パートナー

New York

Danny's practice focuses on appellate litigation. He has led the drafting on dozens of appellate briefs, and regularly argues appeals in state and federal courts. Danny has extensive trial litigation experience as well, with an emphasis on dispositive motions, preserving appellate issues, and developing creative legal strategies.

Danny’s work has covered a wide range of subject areas, including securities, bankruptcy, intellectual property, arbitration, class actions, and criminal law. He has a deep understanding of appeals and critical motions in financial services litigation, and in recent years has played a key role in representing financial institutions in major RMBS cases brought by trustees, investors, and monoline insurers. His financial services clients include Credit Suisse, Goldman Sachs, Mr. Cooper, and Ocwen. He also represents leading technology companies in precedent-setting cases involving antitrust law and ballot initiatives, as well as other complex commercial litigation. In addition, Danny is an experienced bankruptcy litigator, having represented various debtors and creditors in fraudulent transfer cases and other contested insolvency-related matters involving U.S. and foreign law.

Danny is a member of the Second Circuit's pro bono panel and maintains an active pro bono practice focusing on criminal, immigration, racial justice, and LGBTQ+ rights matters in the Supreme Court and other appellate courts. He was recently recognized by the National LGBTQ+ Bar Association as a “Best LGBTQ+ Lawyer Under 40,” by the New York Law Journal as a Rising Star, and by LawDragon in its inaugural 500 X – The Next Generation listing. As part of his commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion, Danny serves as a mentor for The Appellate Project, an organization focused on empowering law students of color to thrive in the appellate field. He has also served as an Orrick ambassador for the Move The Needle Fund, a collaborative effort designed by Diversity Lab to create a more diverse and inclusive legal profession.

Before joining Orrick, Danny served as a law clerk to U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Judge Robert A. Katzmann of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, and Judge Jed S. Rakoff of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. Following his clerkships, he was selected to represent the American Inns of Court as a Temple Bar Scholar in London.