Introduction

Jacquelyn Martin/Associated Press

In a decision with broad implications for the future of class action lawsuits, the Supreme Court ruled on Monday that Wal-Mart cannot be sued for discrimination on behalf of as many as 1.5 million current and former female workers.

The case grew out of a lawsuit filed in 2001 by Betty Dukes, a Wal-Mart employee who said that her efforts to advance in the company were deliberately blocked. The court did not rule on whether Wal-Mart had discriminated against women as individuals, only that they could not sue as a class. The justices were unanimous in finding that the plaintiffs' lawyers had improperly sued under a part of the class action rules that was not primarily concerned with monetary claims. But they were divided 5 to 4, along ideological lines, on whether the suit met a requirement of the class action rules that “there are questions of law or fact common to the class.”

Writing for the majority, Justice Antonin Scalia said proof was "entirely absent" that Wal-Mart operated under a general policy of discrimination, while Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg objected that the decision "disqualifies the class from the starting gate."

What will be the impact of the decision, the first major Supreme Court ruling on a class-action case in 12 years?