Free Republic

Earlier this week, the Supreme Court unanimously threw out a massive class-action sexual-discrimination lawsuit against Walmart. By overruling a lower court's decision, the Supreme Court raised the barrier to future legal challenges against large corporations. As might be expected, probusiness outlets defended the ruling, while advocates for women and minorities lamented it. In the present article I won't discuss the specific legalities of the case, as I'm not a lawyer. Rather, I will argue that standard libertarian theory says that there should be no such things as laws against "discrimination," because they are illegitimate infringements on property rights. Furthermore, in...

There was not a dry eye in the lawn and garden section of the Silsbee Walmart on Monday night. For Connie, a sales associate at the Silsbee Walmart for 13 years, she could think of no better place to wed the love of her life than amid the bargains of her favorite big box retailer. "I just love Walmart," Connie said. "And hey, they already had all the flowers." Monday night, as a dozen of Day's friends, family and fellow Walmart associates looked on, Connie and David Day wed in a brief ceremony in the aisle between the Miracle...

PRINCESS ANNE // Folks around here aren't too sure about the politics of Wal-Mart up in Annapolis, but there is one thing that pretty much everybody in this Eastern Shore county seat can agree on: 800 jobs at a mammoth retail distribution warehouse would be a boon. And another thing: $12 an hour is not chump change in Somerset County, Maryland's poorest jurisdiction, which for decades has seen a steady decline in the traditional stalwarts of the local economy, farming and seafood. Now, a week after the Maryland General Assembly overrode Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr.'s veto of a bill...

Once again, Mr. Ehrlich is kowtowing to the Pat Robertson/Jerry Falwell wing of the Republican Party. He's fearful that both bills are going to be petitioned to ballot next year (by members of his own party) and hurt his support among religious conservatives. That seems unlikely. The politics of an election year should prevent a veto override. But we'll give him this -- at least the governor has his limits. He chose not to veto legislation adding sexual orientation to Maryland's hate crime law and another that will require schools to monitor bullying. It was disappointing that Mr. Ehrlich felt...