Forget the cartoonish "Great Man" version of American history. Nearly all social progress in our country has been spurred by unheralded "nobodies" who felt a sting of injustice and resolved to right the wrong.

Lilly Ledbetter, who recently died at 86, was one such trailblazing rebel. It's worth remembering her gutsy stand for "paycheck fairness." After 20 years as a supervisor at Goodyear Tire in Gadsden, Alabama, Ledbetter was stunned in 1998 to learn that she had routinely been paid about 40% less than men doing the same job -- robbing her of some $200,000. She promptly sued Goodyear for backpay -- and won. Justice!

But Goodyear unleashed a pack of lawyers to drag Ledbetter through spirit-sucking years of legal appeals, including to the Supreme Court. There, Justice Samuel Alito, the far-right judicial extremist, absurdly decreed that she should have filed her claim of sex discrimination when it first started 20........

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