Article by George M. Strickler, Jr.
During its 1988-89 Term the Supreme Court delivered a series of decisions of which the overall effect was to limit the ability of plaintiffs to obtain relief under federal employment discrimination laws. Most of those decisions involved statutory constructions markedly different from interpretations of the lower federal courts. The Court redefined the kind of conduct that constitutes unlawful discrimination, the type of evidence necessary to establish violations of the statutes, the applicable burdens of proof, the standards of causation, and the time limits on some violations. Precisely how radical was the Court's surgery on the civil rights statutes has been a matter of debate. Not enough time has passed to assess fully the impact of the rulings in the lower courts, but concern among civil rights supporters in Congress has been sufficient to result in the introduction in both houses of legislation (omnibus bills) designed to nullify all the decisions. Because of the sweeping coverage of the proposed legislation and because of the opposition of the Bush administration, the future of the bills is uncertain.
One of the Court's decisions of last Term, Martin v. Wilks, does not affect the substantive law governing employment discrimination claims, but addresses the rules controlling the joinder of parties in complex litigation and the perennially problematic issue of the binding effect of judgments, through the law of preclusion, on persons who are not parties to the litigation. The Martin v. Wilks decision could profoundly change the future, not only of employment discrimination actions seeking class relief, but of institutional-reform litigation of all kinds. For that reason, Martin v. Wilks may prove to be the most significant of the Court's decisions of the last term.
This Article will analyze the Martin v. Wilks decision, explore some of its troubling implications, and briefly discuss the recent legislative effort to set it aside.
About the Author
George M. Strickler, Jr. Professor Emeritus of Law, Tulane University. B.A. 1963, Southern Methodist University; LL.B. 1966, Yale University.
Citation
64 Tul. L. Rev. 1557 (1990)