CONGRESS: NOT BOUND BY ITS OWN PRECEDENTS. In addition to what Kay says below about the House's bill addressing Ledbetter, what I found strange was the WaPo criticizing the new law because it goes against Congress's "original intent." Huh? While I can at least understand why people think courts are bound by the original intent of Congress, Congress itself is quite free to change its mind. Whatever Congress thought originally, as Kay says, assuming that every time an employee is paid less because of their gender it constitutes discrimination is both 1)logical and 2)has proven to be perfectly workable in practice. So whether the Congress that originally passed Title VII thought otherwise is beside the point; our current representatives can make up their own minds.
--Scott Lemieux
