U.S. Supreme Court justices appeared to lean on Wednesday toward making it easier for people from "majority backgrounds," such as white or straight people, to pursue workplace discrimination claims, as they heard an appeal by an Ohio woman who claims she was denied a promotion and demoted because she is heterosexual.

Supreme Court justices appeared nearly unanimously aligned during oral arguments Wednesday that lower courts applied an unfair burden of proof to a woman who filed a reverse discrimination claim against a state employer.

Justices across the ideological spectrum and lawyers on both sides agreed that an appeals court erred in requiring members of majority groups to meet a heightened burden.