Judiciary Misconduct Spotlighted in Fourth Circuit Sex Bias Case

A U.S. appeals court will consider reviving a former federal judiciary employee’s sex discrimination claims in a case that could lower the bar for workers to win misconduct lawsuits against the nation’s judicial branch.

Counsel for the worker, an ex-assistant federal public defender known only as “Jane Roe,” will press Roe’s case during oral argument at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit Monday. A panel of three judges from other circuits will hear the case because the Fourth Circuit is one of the defendants.

Unlike private sector workers and most government employees, Roe and other federal judiciary ...