June 22, 2011

Supreme Court news: child support, workplace discrimination

Child support

Hearing the case of a man who was jailed for not paying child support, the Supreme Court ruled that “states must have procedural safeguards in place to help determine whether the parent is able to comply with the support order” but that they are not entitled to a state-provided lawyer.

Workplace discrimination

Justice Scalia can be kind of a dick, but I’ve got to give him credit for throwing water on the Wal-Mart workplace discrimination lawsuit. Here’s Scalia, writing in the majority opinion:
On the facts of the case, significant proof that Wal-Mart operated under a general policy of discrimination. That is entirely absent here… In a company of Wal-Mart's size and geographical scope, it is quite unbelievable that all managers would exercise their discretion in a common way without some common direction.
Well said Your Honor.