Ledbetter V. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. - The Supreme Court's Decision

The Supreme Court's Decision

Justice Alito delivered the opinion of the court. The Court held that according to Title VII, discriminatory intent must occur during the 180-day charging period. Ledbetter did not claim that Goodyear acted with discriminatory intent in the charging period by issuing the checks, nor by denying her a raise in 1998. She argued that the discriminatory behavior occurred long before but still affected her during the 180-day charging period. Prior caselaw, the Court held, established that the actual intentional discrimination must occur within the charging period. The Court also stated that according to those prior cases, Ledbetter’s claim that each check is an act of discrimination is inconsistent with the statute, because there was no evidence of discriminatory intent in the issuing of the checks. Alito was joined in his opinion by Justices Antonin Scalia, Anthony M. Kennedy and Clarence Thomas and Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr.