Wal-Mart worker group seeks Scalia’s recusal from gender-bias case

Washington, D.C. -- A Wednesday report by Bloomberg said that Wal-Mart Watch, a union-funded group that advocates for Wal-Mart Stores workers, said Justice Antonin Scalia should disqualify himself when the U.S. Supreme Court considers the company’s bid to derail a gender-bias suit on behalf of potentially one million employees.



According to the report, Wal-Mart Watch said recusal was warranted because Scalia’s son Eugene has represented Wal-Mart in other cases. Eugene Scalia is co-chairman of the labor and employment practice group at Gibson Dunn & Crutcher LLP, the Los Angeles- based firm representing Wal-Mart in the discrimination case.



The justices will hear arguments in the case on March 29. A federal appeals court approved a single suit to cover women who worked at the 4,400 Wal-Mart and Sam’s Club stores since 2001. Wal-Mart has argued that the lower court made it too easy for workers with different job histories to band together in a single case.



Wal-Mart is facing billions of dollars in potential liability in the case.