U.S. Supreme Court rejects class-action claims against Wal-Mart

The U.S. Supreme Court today rejected a lawsuit against Wal-Mart that potentially was the largest class action employment discrimination case in history.

In a 5-4 decision, in an opinion written by Justice Antonin Scalia, the court said women who claimed discrimination could not pursue their lawsuit as a class.

Up to 1.6 million Wal-Mart employees might have been involved, had the high court allowed the case to go forward.

The court did not rule on whether the women had been discriminated against in pay and promotion decisions.

The opinion said there were too many women in too many jobs to have common ground to sue the company.

Wal-Mart responded with a statement that said "the plaintiffs' claims were worlds away from showing a companywide discriminatory pay and promotion policy."

Some of the lead plaintiffs in the case said they will be pursue their discrimination claims individually.