In his ruling Thursday, Judge Furman rejected KPMG's assertion that the Supreme Court's ruling in Wal-Mart Stores Inc. v. Dukes prevented the female employees from suing as a class and said the precedent "did not close the door altogether on the possibility of certifying a class based on a policy of giving discretion to lower-level supervisors." Furman confirmed that a motion based on Dukes' analysis is premature if brought prior to the class certification stage. The court also ruled that it would not read the Dukes case to deny standing to former employees to seek injunctive or programmatic relief or to seek Rule 23(b)(2) class-action certification, concluding that "it is a mistake to read Dukes as having adopted a 'blanket rule that always denies standing to ex-employees,' which would have implications far beyond the class-action context."'