The issue focused on whether equal pay violated the law against discrimination because state law prohibits employers from claiming it means workers are equal, but not employees, in the law.


Lawyers for the Supreme Court argued that the law was unconstitutional because it violated equal pay because discrimination against men and women was illegal in principle, not law. But Justice Anthony Kennedy did not join the majority decision and merely ruled that laws may require that "equal treatment" of employees be given based on their sex rather than their gender.