March 29 — The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments today on whether the lawsuit of female employees of Wal-Mart pressing a sex-discrimination claim against the retail giant could go to trial as a class-action. The Court’s decision could have widespread ramifications. If it rules the case can go forward, the number of women involved would number at least 500,000 and leave Wal-Mart potentially facing hundreds of millions of dollars in damages. If the Court rules that press their lawsuit as a class representing all Wal-Mart female employees, it could set back the utility of class-action lawsuits in a broad range of cases.

Earlier this month the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund (LDF) filed a friend-of-the-court brief with the Supreme Court supporting the plaintiffs.

Read LDF’s position here.