Tag Archives: US Supreme Court

Supreme Will Not Hear Challenge to Seattle Minimum Wage Law

After Seattle became one of the first US cities to adopt a minimum wage law aiming to reach $15 per hour, five franchises and the International Franchise Association sued the city. The group says that the new law is discriminatory against them because the law treats the 623 franchises in Seattle like big businesses just because they are part of a multi state network.

The Seattle law is the first of such laws to reach the US Supreme Court, but the courts decided on Monday that it will not hear the case.

Labor advocates say that the court’s move is a sign that SCOTUS will continue to refrain from hearing challenges to similar laws from other cities.

Gay Marriage Good for Business Says Corporate America and Beyond

Panorama of the west facade of United States Supreme Court Building at dusk in Washington, D.C., USA. Photo by Joe Ravi CC-BY-SA 3.0
Panorama of the west facade of United States Supreme Court Building at dusk in Washington, D.C., USA. Photo by Joe Ravi CC-BY-SA 3.0

Almost 400 of the world’s largest businesses, corporations, and even sports teams, banned together to present an amicus brief to the Supreme Court stating that gay marriage is ‘good for business.’

As the Supreme Court gears up to hear its major case on the constitutionality of state laws banning gay marriage, 379 companies, including such giants as Apple, Dow Chemical, Verizon and Disney presented the following statement:

“Employees with partners of the same sex should be permitted to marry if they so choose, and then should be treated identically to their married heterosexual counterparts. State laws that require otherwise impose a significant burden on us and harm our ability to attract and retain the best employees. Such laws force businesses to uphold discriminatory laws that run counter to important corporate values. In the end, economic growth suffers.”

On April 28 the SCOTUS justices will be hearing arguments for and against the ban on legalization of gay marriages in certain states. Federal courts have nullified state bans, and the court will have to decide whether the Feds have a constitutional right to uphold that nullification, or if the states alone can determine the legality of gay marriage. Today gay marriage is legal in 37 states and in the District of Columbia. One more state, Nebraska, was about to legalize when a federal appeals court got involved and stopped the process in its tracks.