"Some corporations are too big to be held accountable," was Senator Patrick Leahy's response when the conservative majority of the Supreme Court handed a victory to Wal-Mart by throwing out the largest gender discrimination case in U.S. history. The justices reversed a lower court decision that allowed as many as 1.5 million female workers to sue the nation's largest private employer.
Not holding the top accountable is one of the most important ways to keep hierarchies viable and strong. Hierarchy conservators are working hard to keep corporations on top of our country, financially and politically high on our hierarchies. The conservative majority - Scalia, Roberts, Kennedy, Thomas, and Alito - has again demonstrated that conservative is synonymous with conserving hierarchies.
On this website, Take Action - Clueless Top, #5, we point out that:
HiCons will treat illustrative examples as isolated instances and conclude that the person giving the information is overreacting.
"Respondents wish to sue for millions of employment decisions at once," Justice Antonin Scalia wrote in the majority opinion. "Without some glue holding together the alleged reasons for those decisions, it will be impossible to say that examination of all the class members' claims will produce a common answer to the crucial discrimination question."
We urge everyone who wants equality and fairness to demonstrate your commitment with your pocketbooks. All of us have a role to play to help end hierarchies. Hierarchies flourish because the people at the top are not held accountable for the effects on lower groups. Please think about what you money is supporting if you shop at Wal-Mart, where women hold 70% of the hourly jobs but only 33% of the management positions.
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/updates/law/jan-june11/scotus_06-20.html
