Supreme Court Watch

Participating by telephone, Mr. McGough spoke about U.S. Supreme Court nominee Judge Samuel Alito’s rulings on the Family and Medical Leave Act. He discussed Chittister v. Department of Community and Economic Development, a case in 2000 where the nominee wrote for a unanimous three-judge panel that ruled that state employees could not sue state governments for alleged violations of the federal Family and Medical Leave Act, which required time off for family and medical emergencies. Alito argued that Congress had lacked the authority to set aside states' 11th Amendment sovereign immunity from private lawsuits.

In a separate U.S. Supreme Court case from 2003 on the issue, Nevada Department of Human Resources v. Hibbs, Justice Sandra Day O’Connor ruled with the majority to allow suing on the grounds that state leave policies had discriminated against women, a violation of the 14th Amendment’s equal protection clause. close