you see, the Court did not need to de-authorize the women in Walmart v. Dukes as a class; a likely and reasonable result would have been for SCOTUS to rule that the class was put together wrong for technical reasons and to send the case back to the lower court. That is what should have happened. That is what a “moderate” or “non-activist” Court, a Court that cared about precedent, about stare decisis, or more than anything else, that did not see Corporations as the equivalent of the “landholding” citizens who were the only voters and signatories of the Constitution of the Founders, would have ruled that way, as would the Dissenters who do not Dissent:
Whether the class the plaintiffs describe meets the specific requirements of Rule 23(b)(3) is not before the Court, and I would reserve that matter for consideration and decision on remand. The Court, however, disqualifies the class at the starting gate, holding that the plaintiffs cannot cross the “commonality” line set by Rule 23(a)(2).
That’s from the dissent to Walmart v. Dukes by the only reasonable minds left on the Court, by Justice Ginsburg: http://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/10pdf/10-277.pdf.
A March 30, 2011 hour-long segment on On Point Radio, “Women versus Walmart,” goes into the case in great detail. It is impossible to listen to it and come out where the majority did. Especially the numerous calls from female and male Walmart employees and ex-employees who make clear how the company does its dirty work, but also the analysis going exactly where Ginsburg does: the correct legal analysis of this case is that “disqualifying at the starting gate” would be reaching over the issues delivered to the Court–one of those principles that we have only 220 years or so of precedent to rely on.
The right word is Star Chamber. Get used to it.
The noxiousness of this overreach, of exactly the same kind of dismantling of standing law and precedent in the name of those who just happen to be Roberts/Alito/Scalia/Thomas business cronies, unprecedented in every sense, should be no surprise.
The discussion boards at the Wall Street Journal have become almost entirely Tea Party-ized (or what should be: “Don’t You Call Us Fascists–Don’t You Dare! You’re the Fascists!” Party) nevertheless retain enough sanity/knowledge to see the outrageousness of all this, and perhaps the most direct statement of what the American people have before them can be found in a comment by “Tort Reform”:
- 10:49 am June 20, 2011
- Tort Reform wrote:
Resistance is futile. The Court is on our side, Congress is on our side, the Messiah is on our side. Its not too late to join the winning side. Volunteer at the United States Chamber of Commerce. How many times must you be smacked down to simply give up?