University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center v. Nassar

This opinion may be safely relied on only when the court is deciding, as a matter of law and on de novo review, the causation standard governing a Title VII retaliation claim under 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-3(a). Its reasoning supports requiring proof of but-for causation only insofar as the issue is framed as statutory interpretation based on Congress’s omission of retaliation from § 2000e-2(m). It does not resolve how that standard applies to the evidentiary record, jury instructions, harmless-error analysis, summary judgment or JMOL, remedies, mixed-motive proof, status-based discrimination claims, or other statutes, and reliance beyond defining the abstract causation rule risks over-extension into questions the Court expressly left open.