October 19th 2006
a post with some actual legal substance!
I don’t expect legal TV shows to be totally accurate all the time, but last night, as I was watching this week’s episode of Boston Legal, I got really annoyed. The case involved an employee who was fired because his boss didn’t like that he was a Scientologist. The employee sued. And suddenly, there was a great big constitutional thing going on.
Folks, freedom of religion/association/First Amendment is not what you sue under when you get fired for your religion. Instead, you sue under Title VII. The First Amendment rhetoric is, yes, more interesting, but isn’t the whole thing where they bagged on Scientology for twenty minutes enough? Also, I know the Boston Legal writers consult with legal experts (just ask Eugene Volokh). So do you think they sometimes say to their experts, “Yes, yes, we get that it would never happen this way, but give us something sexier than Title VII, OK? Something….Constitutional!” Because of course none of the scenarios on Boston Legal are exactly realistic, but at least they could try for some semblance of accuracy?
(Can you tell I’m taking an employment class this semester?)
