Overview
- Olympus Spa filed a petition asking the U.S. Supreme Court to hear its challenge to the Ninth Circuit after the appeals court upheld a lower-court ruling that the spa’s women-only policy violated Washington law.
- The petition, filed Monday, argues the spa’s rule is based on patrons’ anatomy rather than gender identity and says enforcing the state order would violate the owners’ First Amendment religious and free-speech rights.
- The dispute began with a 2020 complaint to the Washington State Human Rights Commission by a transgender woman and the commission found the spa’s policy violated the state law that covers gender identity and expression.
- Federal judges were sharply divided at the Ninth Circuit, which ruled 2–1 against the spa and then declined rehearing; dissenting judges used blunt language and emphasized the spa’s communal nude jjimjilbang setting as a privacy and safety concern.
- If the Supreme Court agrees to review the case the state will respond and the justices must vote to grant review, a step that could yield a nationwide precedent on how religious claims and privacy concerns weigh against anti‑discrimination enforcement.