The governor of Louisiana has lost another battle in court over his executive order protecting lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people in state government from discrimination and harassment. Louisiana's first circuit Court of Appeal found Governor John Bell Edwards overstepped his authority by including sexual orientation and gender identity among
the list of protected classes in the state. The unanimous appellate court panel sided with a lower court judge who blocked enforcement of the order in December after a challenge by Attorney General Jeff Landry, joining us as Anthony christ
a professor at Chicago Kent College of Law. Anthony Edwards attorneys argued that nothing prevents the governor from establishing policy by executive order as long as it doesn't conflict with existing law, and Edwards said, even President Trump agrees, as he has kept in place a federal executive order which is virtually identical to the order I put in place.
What was the court's answer to that arguments? So the court ultimately sided with the Louisiana Attorney General um and said that what the governor was doing was not um not just implementing current policy and current law, but was actually um in effect lawmaking, so so basically taking the legislature's role um and and making creating law. UM. And so the court, based you know, looked to federal law and state law, which neither expressly protect against sex orientation
or gender identity discrimination. And they looked to federal interpretation or federal courts interpretation or federal law, which in Louisiana have yet to recognize that sexual orientation or gender identity discrimination is a form of sex discrimination. And um, because they because they said, um, Louisiana law doesn't recognize that
this kind of discrimination is unlawful. Um. It really basically validated the Attorney General's position that the governor was making a law and not just imple meaning current law and policy. But Anthony, the governor is the head state official. Couldn't he isn't it within his purview under Louisiana law to say, Look, the government that I run is not going to discriminate against people based on their sexual identity, and we're not going to contracts with companies that do that. What Why
is it that under Louisiana law he can't do that? Um. You know, I think that ultimately it will be up to Louisiana Court to to really settle this UM. A number of governors and you know, again President Obama have done similar things in North Carolina. Just this last month, Governor Cooper um initiated a similar executive order UM. And and so it'll be remain remain to be seen. UM. You know what exactly the Louisiana State Supreme Court will
will do. UM. But generally speaking, governors and you know, the executive branch has a decent amount of of latitude UM to create policies, personnel policies for the executive branch and for the state government UM employees. UM. Again, so long as they're not inconsistent with state law. And if the governor, you know, if the governor's executive order is unpalatable to the state legislators, they have the authority to
override it by statute UM as well. So UM, I think most people would have assumed that this kind of executive order would have been, you know, within the governor's prerogative. UM. And so this decision, to me strikes me as as as a step with what most states and the federal government allows in this area. But UM, it will ultimately be up to the Louisiana State Supreme Court. Let's talk
about the Supreme Court. There's a case before the Supreme Court involving the firing of a lesbian hospital security guard in Georgia, and the attorneys general of seventeen states and the District of Columbia are urging the justices to decide if Title seven of the Civil Rights Act protects LGBT individuals from discrimination on the job. And it's something that the E E O C and the Justice Department are in opposition on. Would that taking that case be an
important step in understanding this? Yeah? So so Ultimately, UM, the the Louisiana Pelate Court UM noted that if federal law was interpreted in such a way that to recognize a sex discrimination or sexual orientation discrimination is a form of sex discrimination, as those Attorneys General UM are asking
the Supreme Court United States Supreme Court to do. UM, then the governor's executive order would be merely uh, the implementation of of federal federal law and and perhaps state uh state employment law UM, and his executive order would
be would be lawful under the Louisiana Constitution. So UM in that sense, Uh, you know that that's an incredibly or the Evans case UM could help resolve the issue UM in Louisiana enough, but UM Devin's case has a lot more promise in the sense that it can protect people in private employment UM, in the private employment sector
and the public appointment sector across the country. UM. If Title seven is ruled or interpreted in such a way that LGBT people are protected under the sex discrimination ban, Anthony in about thirty seconds, what's your opinion of whether LGBT should be protected under Title seven? UM, I absolutely think that that LGBT employees have a have a cognizable claim under Title seven. UM. You can't really discriminate against sex orientation or someone's gender identity with really taking their
sex into account. And at the end of the day, Title seven is meant to end sex discrimination in all its forms. Thank you, Anthony, as always for being on Bloomberg Law. That's Anthony christ He's a professor at Chicago Kent College of Law.