Pretextual:
done or used as a pretext (= a pretended reason for doing something that is used to hide the real reason):
The reasons given by defense counsel were not genuine and were pretextual.
The explanation for her firing was pretextual and influenced instead by a retaliatory motive. [Cambridge English Dictionary]
Noted in “Obama warned us about the Supreme Court we have right now,” Ian Millhiser, ThinkProgress:
This reasoning is highly dubious. As Kagan noted, the prison did not deny Ray’s request to be accompanied by his imam until January 23 — so Ray filed his lawsuit just five days after he was officially denied the relief he sought. The brief explanation the Republican majority offered for its decision is so wildly out of touch with the facts of the case that, as I wrote shortly after the decision came down, “it appears very likely that the majority’s claim that Ray waited too long to file his suit is pretextual.”
