Dabit, a former Merrill Lynch broker, filed a class action on behalf of brokers who held on to certain stocks, and encouraged their clients to do so, longer than they should have. Dabit complained, under Oklahoma law, that Merrill Lynch disseminated misleading research thereby manipulating stock prices. In addition to their own losses, the brokers also lost commission fees when their clients took their business elsewhere. The Supreme Court held that the Securities Litigation Uniform Standards Act of 1998, which precludes class actions based upon State Law alleging a misrepresentation, omission, or manipulative or deceptive practice “in connection with the purchase or sale of a covered security” (15 U.S.C. 78bb(f)(1)) preempted any attempt to certify claims that the plaintiffs held on to the stock too long. The Court noted that it was not considering the issue of whether Dabit’s lost commission claims escaped preemption. The Court also insisted that it had not lost sight of the general presumption that Congress does not cavalierly pre-empt State Law causes of action; “that presumption” the Court commented, “carries less force here than in other contexts because SLUSA does not actually pre-empt any state cause of action. It simply denies plaintiffs the right to use the class action device to vindicate certain claims. The Act does not deny any individual plaintiff, or indeed any group of fewer than 50 plaintiffs, the right to enforce any state-law cause of action that may exist.” Merrill Lynch v. Dabit, 126 S.Ct. 1503 (2006).