I have long argued that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 — the part of the law enshrining prohibitions on employment discrimination — ought to be repealed. One of the great advantages of unregulated labor markets is that they lead to better fits between workers and their positions. Forced associations may require accommodations that often prove unstable in the long run. Allowing the voluntary market to work will reduce the overall cost of hiring and firing and will therefore systematically increase job opportunities across the board. Title VII provides no exception to the general rule that regulated labor markets underperform competitive ones.

The complicated thicket that results from Title VII can be seen in a case that went before the Supreme Court last week. At issue was whether an Abercrombie & Fitch store engaged in impermissible religious discrimination when it failed to hire a Muslim woman whose spiritual obligation to wear the hijab conflicted with the dress code expected of store employees. As I note in my new column for Defining Ideas from the Hoover Institution, this would have been a much easier process in a non-Title VII world: