Wal-Mart is appealing the 2004 class action national certification of a class of plaintiff who are suing on the grounds of gender discrimination. The large retailer has previously lost two court decisions about this case.
The appeal will be heard by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.
Common Law is a system of law that depends on previous judicial judgements or precedents to establish law.
By way of contrast, statutory law creates law with the successful statutes of a legislative body and regulatory law utilizes requirements and obligations handed down by members of the executive branch to form law. Consitutional law predicates its laws upon the articles of the Constitution.
A governing principle of common law is stare decisis which in short means that if the components of a case are materially the same as a previously decided case then a similar result must be reached.
Stare decisis is the principle in common law that prior decisions are authoritative and binding for all cases where the facts are the same. The implication is that any case with the same facts must be decided the same as any previously decided case. This principle is how judicial decisions become binding precedent under common law.
The term literally means “standing by decisions” or “standing by things decided” in Latin. It provides stability and consistency to common law rulings.
Billings Learned Hand (1872 – 1961) was a federal judge for the United States District Court in the Southern District of New York and later was the Chief Justice of the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. He was from a politically active family (historically Democrat) and a line of lawyers. Judge Hand dropped his given name of Billings early in life saying it was too pretentious. The judge was only passingly successful as a lawyer; it wasn’t until he was elevated to the level of federal judge that his critical thought, liberal bent and attitude of judicial restraint shone vibrantly.
President Obama nominated Govenor Kathleen Sebelius for Secretary of Health and Human Services as many expected he would.
One of the major, meritorious battles Gov Sebelius will face will focus on her view of abortion as an elected executive. During her two terms as Kansas Governor, Mrs. Sebelius has vetoed some legislation such as HB 2503 (2005) and SB 389 (2008, Gov Sebelius’ comments) but she also signed a bill known as Alexa’s Law which allows for prosecution of people who commit violence against fetuses.