[Grovenet] Democrats Hear a Plea for a Different Supreme Court

[Steele, Mike]

Bob...thanks for sharing this...a truly gut issue...the people vs.
corporations and those who side with them to the exclusion of justice,
fairness, equality, and basic human dignity.

 

--Mike

 

________________________________

From: grovenet-bounces at rdrop.com [mailto:grovenet-bounces at rdrop.com] On
Behalf Of Bob Browning
Sent: Thursday, August 28, 2008 10:43 AM
To: Grovenet
Subject: [Grovenet] Democrats Hear a Plea for a Different Supreme Court

 

I listened to this speech yesterday on my way home from the office. Not
the most powerfully delivered speech of the Convention, but to my mind,
one of the most compelling.

bob

*******************************************

 

Copyright 2008 ALM Properties, Inc. All rights reserved.




Democrats Hear a Plea for a Different Supreme Court


Tony Mauro
08-28-2008

A few minutes before Sen. Hillary Clinton spoke to the Democratic
convention Tuesday night, a self-described "grandmother from Alabama"
addressed the delegates with considerably less fanfare. The speaker was
Lilly Ledbetter, who lost a 2007 Supreme Court 5-4 decision (pdf)
<http://www.supremecourtus.gov/opinions/06pdf/05-1074.pdf>  that has
become one of the most criticized rulings of the Roberts Court. The
Court ruled that her Title VII claim of pay discrimination at a Goodyear
Tire plant in Alabama was filed too late. She should have made her claim
years earlier, the majority said, when the company made the initial
salary decision -- even though she did not become aware of the disparity
until years later. 

"My job demanded a lot, and I gave it 100 percent," Ledbetter told the
convention. "I kept up with every one of my male co-workers." The salary
differentials, she said, "affected my family's quality of life then, and
they affect my retirement now." She noted that in dissent, Justice Ruth
Bader Ginsburg said the ruling made no sense in the real world. "She was
right." In response to the ruling, the House of Representatives passed a
bill that would change Title VII to ensure that claims like hers would
be valid, but in the Senate, Republicans have prevented a vote. 

"We can't afford more of the same votes that deny women their equal
rights," Ledbetter said, asserting that "equal pay for equal work is a
fundamental American principle." 

"Barack Obama is on our side," Ledbetter continued. "He is fighting to
fix this terrible ruling, and as president, he has promised to appoint
justices who will enforce laws that protect everyday people like me." 

 

First reported in The BLT: The Blog of Legal Times
<http://legaltimes.typepad.com/>  

------------------------------------------------------------- 
 

-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: not available
Type: image/gif
Size: 1297 bytes
Desc: image001.gif
Url : /pipermail/attachments/20080828/f4c4044d/attachment.gif 
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: not available
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 87729 bytes
Desc: image002.jpg
Url : /pipermail/attachments/20080828/f4c4044d/attachment.jpe