By Alabama Public Radio
Washington, D.C. – A high school basketball coach from Alabama has received an award from the National Women's Law Center. Roderick Jackson of Birmingham went to Washington, D.C., to accept that award, and he'll be back in the nation's capitol in less than a month. That's when the U.S. Supreme Court will consider whether he was wrongly fired for complaining about discrimination against his Ensley High School girls' basketball team. Jackson's lawyers will try to convince the high court on November 30 that he has a right to sue under Title IX. That 1972 federal law bars sexual discrimination in college and high school athletics programs that receive federal money. The Birmingham Board of Education is arguing that Jackson does not have a right to sue because he personally suffered no sexual discrimination. Jackson was reinstated as interim coach, but he's still fighting to get the job back permanently. He says there was severe inequity between his girls' team and the boys' team, which was coached by the school's athletics director.