Today, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear our case on behalf of Fire Chief Ron Hittle, who was fired for attending a leadership conference that took place at a church.

While we are disappointed with today’s decision, the Court’s response provided hope for future cases involving religious discrimination in the workplace.

You see, the Court didn’t just deny the case outright. In a rare move, two justices attached a dissent arguing that the Court should have taken Chief Hittle’s case.

Justices Clarence Thomas and Neil Gorsuch wrote that this was an opportunity to revisit a confusing legal doctrine that’s been in place for over 50 years. They noted that the framework created in the 1973 case McDonnell Douglas Corp. v. Green has caused “chaos” for lower courts evaluating employment discrimination cases.

First Liberty Senior Counsel Stephanie Taub explains why there’s a silver lining in this response from the Court:

Attaching a dissent to a denial is incredibly rare. The Supreme Court receives about 7,000 to 8,000 requests each year. It typically agrees to hear only about 60 cases or less, less than one percent of all requests. Most appeals are denied outright, without any comment or explanation.

The fact that two justices made a point to write a dissent is highly significant. Dissenting opinions like this one are often the first step toward getting a harmful precedent overturned.

Sometimes, it takes a few cases to lay the groundwork before the Supreme Court decides to take up an important issue. Our Coach Kennedy and Faithful Carrier cases are great examples.

In Coach Kennedy’s case, the Court declined to hear his first appeal. But—similar to what happened today—four justices attached a rare statement explaining the legal issues that needed clarification before the Court could hear the case.

After the Kennedy case had worked its way back through the federal courts, the Supreme Court not only agreed to the case, but delivered a landmark decision that now protects religious expression for millions of Americans.

In our Faithful Carrier case involving postal worker Gerald Groff, the Court had also declined to take up at least three similar cases that had asked to reevaluate the workplace religious accommodation test before it decided to hear Groff v. DeJoy.

And the result? First Liberty won a unanimous 9-0 Supreme Court victory in favor of employees of faith needing religious accommodations at work.

As you can see, the Court’s denial to accept this case doesn’t end the battle for religious employees to be able to express their faith in the workplace.

Far from it.

We have a powerful dissent in our hands that we can use as we continue to fight for all people of faith whose religious liberty is threatened while on the job.

For now, please continue to pray for Chief Hittle.

Today marks the end of a lengthy legal battle. Ron fought valiantly to protect religious liberty rights so that fewer people would experience religious discrimination at work. We honor him for his perseverance and willingness to take a stand for faith.

Click below if you would like to express your support and say thank you to Fire Chief Hittle:

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You truly are the driving force behind our work. Thanks to your generous support, we can provide free legal representation to Americans like Chief Hittle. Please give to First Liberty today and help us continue leading the fight to stop religious discrimination in the workplace.