Mexican gun dispute and a straight woman's sex discrimination claim among new Supreme Court cases

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Friday took up a series of new cases ahead of its new term, including a bid by gun companies to evade a lawsuit filed by the Mexican government and a workplace sex discrimination dispute over claims a woman was discriminated against because she is straight.

The court's nine-month new term officially starts on Monday.

In the gun case, Mexico officials say gun companies should be held accountable for violent crime across the border involving their products.

The case currently involves two companies — Smith & Wesson and Interstate Arms — with other manufacturers, including Glock and Colt, already successfully having claims against them tossed out.

The companies argue that a law called the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act that restricts lawsuits against arms manufacturers means that the entire lawsuit should be dismissed.

A federal judge had ruled for the manufacturers, but the Boston-based 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals revived the case, saying that the liability shield did not extend to Mexico’s specific claims.

In the sex discrimination case, Marlean Ames sued the Ohio Department of Youth Services under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, which bars sex discrimination in the workplace, when a promotion she applied for was given to a lesbian woman. She was then demoted and her old position was taken by a gay man.

Ames has worked at the department since 2004. Starting in 2017, she began reporting to a lesbian woman. She was denied the promotion she sought two years later and demoted soon after that.

Lower courts, including the Cincinnati-based 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, ruled for the state agency, but Ames then turned to the Supreme Court. In particular, her lawyers take