The Supreme Court’s decision to throw out a sex-discrimination suit by a large group of female Wal-Mart employees may look like a mere procedural decision about the rules for class-action lawsuits. But it is in fact a much bigger deal: it significantly shifts power from workers to big employers.
The ruling on Monday in Wal-Mart Stores v. Dukes puts a halt to a class-action lawsuit that could ultimately have included as many as 1.5 million current and former women employees of Wal-Mart. It also weakens Rule 23, the federal procedural rule that allows plaintiffs to join together to file class actions.
