Particle.news
Download on the App Store
11 ARTICLES
·
2w ago

Ninth Circuit Rejects Rehearing in Olympus Spa Case After Vulgar Dissent Draws Broad Rebuke

The denial leaves in place a 2025 ruling upholding Washington’s public‑accommodations law, positioning a dispute over sex‑segregated nude spaces and religious claims for a potential Supreme Court appeal.

Image
9th Circuit Judge Lawrence VanDyke used vulgar language to describe transgender women in a dissent posted Thursday, and said his colleagues had “lost their collective minds.”
Image
9th Circuit Judge Lawrence Van Dyke submitted a video of himself handling firearms in his chamber while wearing his judicial robe as part of his dissent in a case upholding a California gun law.

Overview

  • The full Ninth Circuit declined to rehear Olympus Spa v. Armstrong, leaving intact a May 2025 panel decision that allowed Washington to enforce its anti‑discrimination law against the women‑only nude spa.
  • Judge Lawrence VanDyke’s dissent denouncing the denial opened with a crude reference to male genitalia and accused “woke” colleagues of ignoring harms to women and girls, a tone he later defended as intentional.
  • A statement by Senior Judge Mary Margaret McKeown, joined by more than two dozen judges, condemned the dissent’s language as undermining public trust, and two other judges added, “We are better than this.”
  • The dispute stems from a 2020 complaint after the spa excluded a pre‑operative transgender woman, with lower courts rejecting the spa’s First Amendment claims on compelled speech, free exercise, and association.
  • Several conservative judges filed separate dissents from the rehearing denial, and observers say the next step could be a petition asking the U.S. Supreme Court to review the case.