Robin had clerked for Georgia Department of Law since 1990, and a year later was offered the full-time job after graduating sixth in her class at Emory Law School. She had been ofered a job in the office of Georgia attorney general Michael J. Bowers.

But when Bowers discovered Shahar's sexual orientation, and learned that she was planning a Jewish wedding with her lesbian partner, he withdrew the job offer, citing the Georgia sodomy law that technically made her a criminal. Therefore Robin lost her job. She filed Bowers.

At the trial, Bowers made a revelation that provides additional evidence of the double standard, favoring heterosexuals, in his office. Bowers has since had to admit he was involved in an extramarital affair with a Department subordinate, that lasted more than a decade. Adultery, like sodomy, is a crime in Georgia.

In 1998, the U.S. Supreme Court denied a petition asking it to consider Robin Shahar's constitutional challenge to her 1991 firing by then-Georgia Attorney General Michael Bowers. Four judges on the twelve-person appeals court strongly dissented, agreeing with Robin that her rights had been violated.