 Prior caselaw, the Court held, established that the actual intentional discrimination must occur within the charging period.The Court also stated that according to those prior cases, Ledbetter’s claim that each check is an act of discrimination is inconsistent with the statute, because there was no evidence of discriminatory intent in the issuing of the checks.Alito was joined in his opinion by Justices Antonin Scalia, Anthony M. Kennedy and Clarence Thomas and Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr.

Justice Ginsburg wrote the dissent and read it from the bench, a rare practice.