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

[Katie Allnutt]

I managed to catch this one when she was on TV. A most impressive  
person.
Her story makes one wonder about the wisdom (or lack thereof) of 5 of  
the Supreme Court justices. In essence they told her that she either  
had to be clairvoyant and know about when her corporate employer  
first screwed her or she should just go home. And since clairvoyance  
is hard to come by she was just out of luck.

Of course when congress tried to fix it the republicans in the Senate  
filibustered because corporate lobbyists don't want corporations to  
have to pay equal wages for equal work. It is much cheaper to cheat  
people out of their rightful pay, keep it a secret, then appeal all  
the way to a Supreme court packed with people who believe that  
corporations have all the rights of a natural person but not all the  
responsibilities that come with accountability.

When your boss has the legal ability to screw you and the legal right  
to tell your coworkers to keep it a secret, it just adds insult to  
injury when the court says the clock starts ticking when your manager  
knows he's screwing you, not when you learn about it months or years  
later.

But like she said,  she is voting for Obama because things can be  
better in the future. It will only happen when the new president  
believes in justice and fairness for all Americans (unlike the  
current  president and his twin, Candidate John).

Its all about a better future.

Katie


On Aug 28, 2008, at 10:43 AM, Bob Browning wrote:

> 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
>
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> 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) 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
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