In a tangled decision, the justices ruled against a disabled firefighter who sued her former employer for refusing her health benefits after she had retired.
One section of the Americans With Disabilities Act specifies that it is illegal to discriminate in compensation because of a disability. The justices wrestled with whether the section included retirees.
The decision to uphold the Tennessee law will most likely mean a patchwork of laws throughout the country, a map that traces current political polarization.
Gerald Bostock, whose case let to the Supreme Court agreeing that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 guaranteed nationwide protection from workplace discrimination to gay and transgender people, at his home in Atlanta in 2019.
Disability rights groups had followed the case closely, warning that arguments by the school district could threaten broader protections for people with disabilities.