Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/19pdf/17-1618_hfci.pdf
Page Number: 64.0

Cite as:  590 U. S. ____ (2020) 

27 

ALITO, J., dissenting 

Women  Lawyers  Meet:  Representatives  of  20  States  En-
dorse  Proposed  Equal  Rights  Amendment,  N. Y.  Times, 
Sept. 16, 1921, p. 10.

Similar  terms  were  used  in  the  precursor  to  the  Equal 
Pay Act.  Introduced in 1944 by Congresswoman Winifred 
C. Stanley, it proclaimed that “[d]iscrimination against em-
ployees,  in  rates  of  compensation  paid,  on  account  of  sex” 
was  “contrary  to  the  public  interest.”  H. R.  5056,  78th 
Cong., 2d Sess.

In 1952, the new Constitution for Puerto Rico, which was 
approved by Congress, 66 Stat. 327, prohibited all “discrim-
ination . . . on account of . . . sex,”  Art. II, Bill of Rights §1 
(emphasis  added),  and  in  the  landmark  Immigration  and
Nationality Act of 1952, Congress outlawed discrimination
in naturalization “because of . . .  sex.”  8 U. S. C. §1422 (em-
phasis added).

In 1958, the International Labour Organisation, a United 
Nations  agency  of  which  the  United  States  is  a  member, 
recommended that nations bar employment discrimination 
“made on the basis of . . . sex.”  Convention (No. 111) Con-
cerning Discrimination in Respect of Employment and Oc-
cupation, Art. 1(a), June 25, 1958, 362 U. N. T. S. 32 (em-
phasis added).

In  1961,  President  Kennedy  ordered  the  Civil  Service
Commission to review and modify personnel policies “to as-
sure  that  selection  for  any  career  position  is  hereinafter
made  solely  on  the  basis  of  individual  merit  and  fitness, 
without  regard  to  sex.”21   He  concurrently  established  a
“Commission  on  the  Status  of  Women”  and  directed  it  to 
recommend policies “for overcoming discriminations in gov-
ernment and private employment on the basis of sex.”  Exec. 
Order  No.  10980,  3  CFR  138  (1961  Supp.)  (emphasis 
—————— 

21 J.  Kennedy,  Statement  by  the  President  on  the  Establishment  of
the  President’s  Commission  on  the  Status  of  Women  3  (Dec.  14,  1961) 
(emphasis  added),  https://www.jfklibrary.org/asset-viewer/archives/
JFKPOF/093/JFKPOF-093-004.