Washington ? The Supreme Court considered Tuesday whether a landmark gender equity law shields people who report discrimination, hearing the case of an Alabama girls basketball coach who was fired after complaining that the boys were treated better.

In a case testing the scope of the Title IX law, Roderick Jackson used the statute as the basis for a lawsuit against the Birmingham Board of Education, claiming wrongful termination.

Jackson lost his coaching job in 2001 after repeatedly asking the Birmingham school officials to provide his team a regulation-size gym with basketball rims that weren’t bent — just like the boys’ team had.

Jackson then sued to get his job back along with lost wages under the Title IX law.

Justices appeared divided along ideological lines, with Ruth Bader Ginsburg and other liberal members expressing concern that barring lawsuits like Jackson’s would deter discrimination complaints. Justice Antonin Scalia suggested Congress never intended that.

Kenneth Thomas, a lawyer representing the school board, argued that the word ‘retaliation’ was never mentioned in the statue. To allow whistleblowers, regardless of their sex, to sue would open school districts to a wave of lawsuits.

Marcia Greenberger, Jackson’s attorney, said on ABC’s “Good Morning America”: “What’s at stake in this case — which affects everyone around the country in the area of athletics and in every type of educational arena — is, can somebody try to enforce Title IX by simply speaking out and bringing to the attention of school officials violations of the law without being punished?” she said.