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The Roberts court decision to block the class action lawsuit for sex discrimination effectively defines Walmart as 'too big to sue'

Let's get this right: the world's biggest boss, supported by companies as diverse as Altria, Bank of America, Microsoft and General Electric and backed up by the godfather of big business (the US Chamber of Commerce) has persuaded the US supreme court that thousands of women workers can't possibly share enough of an interest to constitute a class?

Dividing 5-4, in Dukes v Walmart, the supreme court on Monday dismissed the plaintiffs' claim that companywide policy gave local managers too much discretion in pay and promotion decisions, leaving Walmart employees at thousands of Walmart and Sam's Club stores vulnerable to gender stereotypes. (The company changed the format of its name since the case was filed.) The plaintiffs "provide no convincing proof of a companywide discriminatory pay and promotion policy," Justice Antonin Scalia wrote for the majority.

in every job classification in every region

The Roberts court has already been hostile to just about every consumer class action. Going forward, the impact of Monday's decision goes well beyond the 1.6 million workers in the Walmart case. "It means it's going to be much harder to bring class action suits against big companies," says Lawrence.