As predicted, the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Ames v. Ohio Department of Youth Services has fueled assertions of a lethal strike against corporate diversity, equity and inclusion. But legal experts on DEI warn: not so fast.

Ames is a “reverse discrimination” case, in which a member of a majority group alleges discrimination in favor of a minority group. Although Ames did not involve a DEI initiative, reverse discrimination claims have become the go-to legal tool for challenging corporate DEI programs. So when the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the employee in Ames, DEI critics claimed victory.

But legal experts say that characterizing Ames as an anti-DEI ruling is more rhetoric than reality.

Although the Supreme Court revived Ames’s case, the decision only addressed a narrow issue about the test that some states used for initial review of reverse discrimination claims. Employment law experts explain that the Ames decision does not change the legality of DEI programs.

The Narrow Legal Issue In Ames

Marlean Ames, a heterosexual woman, was an administrator at a youth services agency. Ames applied for a promotion to become a Bureau Chief. She did not receive that job and was instead demoted. The employer hired a gay man to fill her former administrator position and selected a lesbian woman for the Bureau Chief job.

Ames filed a federal lawsuit claiming that her employer discriminated against her because she is heterosexual in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights...

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