"The city showed extreme anti-religious bias and broke the law when it fired Chief Hittle. We are asking the Supreme Court to reverse the lower court's decision and uphold the clear meaning of Title VII to protect all Americans in the workplace." Aaron Streett, a lawyer with Baker Botts, which also is working on the case, said, "City of Stockton officials were completely intolerant of Chief Hittle's religious beliefs. Federal law protects the freedom of every American to live without fear of being fired simply because of their beliefs." He said, "Chief Ron Hittle was an exemplary leader of the Stockton Fire Department who was fired because of his Christian faith. But to make matters worse, the courts reversed the evidentiary assumptions and chose to believe Stockton's denial that it did not discriminate, instead of focusing on the abundant evidence Chief Hittle supplied."
