Proving workplace discrimination
Jiang v. City of Tulsa
In brief
- Where it stands
- Petition Pending
Awaiting an order on the petition
- What it’s about
- Hua Jiang asks the Supreme Court whether a Title VII plaintiff using indirect evidence must follow McDonnell Douglas’s three-step test to keep a job-discrimination claim from being ended before trial, or may rely on all the evidence to show intentional discrimination.
- What's at stake
- Jiang's petition asks whether he can use the full record to seek a jury finding of intentional discrimination without first completing each step of the test.
Summary: written with AI from the case record.
What it's about
The petition also asks whether the test should be overruled or not used at that stage.
Courts of appeals regularly use the test before trial, but disagree about whether plaintiffs relying on circumstantial evidence must use it.
Question presented
1. Whether a Title VII plaintiff relying on circumstantial evidence must satisfy the three-step framework of McDonnell Douglas Corp. v. Green, 411 U.S. 792 (1973), to survive summary judgment, or may instead establish a triable claim by showing that the evidence as a whole would permit a reasonable jury to find intentional discrimination. 2. Whether McDonnell Douglas should be overruled or held inapplicable at summary judgment in Title VII cases.
What happens next
The Court must decide whether to hear the petition. No oral argument or decision window is set before the Court agrees to hear it.
Documents
Docket activity
New analysis added
AI analysis generated: Case Briefing
Case data updated: summary, question_presented, generation_metadata
Case data updated: question_presented, extraction_metadata
Brief added: Petition
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Court Order added: Lower Court Orders/Opinions
More questions
- Has the Supreme Court already ruled on whether the test applies before trial?
- No. In 2025, the Court assumed the test applied at that stage but did not decide the question.
Sources
Primary materials plus reporting. Best-effort analysis: this explainer relies on a mix of primary materials and trusted secondary sources. Official filings and opinions remain authoritative.