Hightower Lowdown

George W has struck another blow against America’s
working stiffs —this time through his Supreme Court
appointees John Roberts and Sam Alito, who just
endorsed pay discrimination against women.

Lilly Ledbetter had worked at Goodyear Tire for 20
years. Late in her career, she learned that men doing
the same work she did had been getting far higher pay
raises over the years, leaving her salary some 40
percent lower than theirs.

Her 1998 lawsuit was backed by the government’s
antidiscrimination agency…until Bush came along. Last
year, when Ledbetter’s case finally reached the
Supremes, the Bushites disavowed the agency and filed
a brief on the side of the corporate discriminator.

The result? Bush’s two corporate-biased judges pushed
a 5-4 opinion that the discrimination was irrelevant
because employees must file a pay complaint within
180 days of having their salaries set. This bit of
judicial activism overturns decades of federal policy
and precedent.

More importantly, it’s a sham. The corporate
workplace is shrouded in secrecy and is hostile to
anyone asking questions, so no one’s going to know
within 180 days of new salaries being put in place
that discrimination is afoot. What Bush’s judges have
done—on behalf of powerful corporations— is
effectively to negate the federal law prohibiting
workplace discrimination.

This is why it is essential that we evaluate judicial
appointees not just on social issues, but also on how
they’ll treat workers, consumers, the environment,
and others abused by corporate power.