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Article

29 Jun 2011

Author:
Deirdre Shesgreen, Connecticut Mirror [USA]

Senators examine high court record on cases against business [USA]

The Wal-Mart case was Exhibit A at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing probing whether the nation's highest court has tilted too much toward big business, restricting access to the legal system through a series of recent opinions. "You get the unfortunate feeling that many of the Justices view plaintiffs as a mere nuisance to corporations," Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, a Democrat from Vermont, said in his opening remarks. He said the legal rights of average citizens are "being eroded by what appears to be the most business-friendly court in the last 75 years."…[T]op Republican on the panel…argued that the Supreme Court's 2010 decisions tracked legal precedent and did not favor corporate America…But some experts have said the implications could be wide-ranging, restricting the ability of other plaintiffs to join together in class-action cases.

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