Supreme Court Wrap-Up

This session, the Supreme Court ruled on a number of issues important to women and families. Here's a wrap-up of the major cases the National Partnership participated in as a friend of the court:

• By a narrow 5-4 majority, the Supreme Court ruled in Stenberg v. Carhart that Nebraska's extreme and dangerous ban on so-called 'partial birth-abortion' violated Roe v. Wade and posed a serious threat to women's health. The Court emphasized the need to protect women's health and said that laws like Nebraska's are so broad as to potentially outlaw a variety of abortion procedures, even those performed early in pregnancy.

  'Although this decision preserves the fundamental principles established by Roe v. Wade, such a narrow victory underscores once again that the right to choose abortion hangs by a thread in this country,' said National Partnership President Judith L. Lichtman.

• In Reeves v. Sanderson Plumbing Products, Inc., a unanimous decision lowered the burden of proof for job discrimination lawsuits. Workers who present a valid discrimination claim can win by showing that an employer's reason for denying a promotion or firing is false. A jury can decide whether the real motive was discrimination without forcing the worker to provide even more evidence of wrongdoing. This ruling gives victims of job discrimination a better chance of having a successful day in court.

• Boy Scouts of America v. Dale In a disappointing 5-4 decision, the right for the Boy Scouts of America to ban gay troop leaders from joining the organization was upheld.

• United States v. Morrison In another disappointing 5-4 ruling, the Court declared that granting a Civil Rights Remedy to victims of violence against women in the 1994 Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) is unconstitutional and exceeded Congress' authority.