 Beginning in 2005, the class-action suit "Dukes v. Walmart Stores, Inc." was heard by the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.Sociologist Dr. William Bielby provided expert opinion on the case, in which he evaluated Walmart's employment policies and corporate culture "against what social science research shows to be factors that create and sustain bias and those that minimize bias" and claimed there was gender bias.In 2011, for the U.S. Supreme Court case "Walmart v. Dukes", U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia rejected Bielby's testimony, saying it was "worlds away" from proof.