The federal government got off the sidelines Thursday to throw a few blocks for plaintiffs in a huge gender class action against Wal-Mart. The move is a reversal by the U.S. Equal Employment and Opportunity Commission…[T]he EEOC now opposes Wal-Mart's bid to try punitive damages on a case-by-case basis, according to an amicus curiae brief the commission filed with the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Plaintiffs lawyers first sought the government's intervention in 2006 when the case was before a three-judge panel of the 9th Circuit. But the EEOC declined without stating a reason…The panel upheld class certification for 2 million potential plaintiffs. But the Ninth Circuit decided to take the case en banc.