The Supreme Court on Monday overturned a 9th Circuit Court decision on equal pay because Judge Stephen Reinhardt from Los Angeles died 11 days before the ruling was announced.
“Federal judges are appointed for life, not for eternity,†the high court said in a brief, unsigned opinion.
During his long career, Reinhardt was a liberal leader of the 9th Circuit and voiced a certain pride in being reversed often by the more conservative Supreme Court.
On April 9, the 9th Circuit based in San Francisco issued an opinion in a Fresno school case that was written by Reinhardt and spoke for a 6-5 majority.
The opinion upheld an Equal Pay Act claim brought by Aileen Rizo who alleged she was paid less than male colleagues because her starting salary was based unfairly on her pay level in a previous job. Reinhardt said the 1963 law was intended to eliminate pay discrimination against women. It would be “inconceivable,†he wrote, that the law would permit “disparities that Congress declared are not only related to sex but caused by sex.â€
But Reinhardt had died suddenly on March 29 when the case was still pending.
https://www.latimes.com/politics/la-na-pol-court-reinhardt-20190225-story.html
