Sonia Sotomayor, New Haven | 06/30/2009 9:45 am
Will Supreme Court's Decision on New Haven Firefighter Case Hurt Sonia Sotomayor's Confirmation?
High court overturns Sotomayor decision, saying New Haven did condone reverse discrimination with firefighter test. What does that mean for her?
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Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor may have a more difficult path ahead on her way toward confirmation, after the Supreme Court yesterday overturned a key "reverse discrimination" ruling she took part in.
The Supreme Court on Monday ruled 5-4 in Ricci v. DeStefano that the city of New Haven, CT, wrongly discarded the results of promotional exams for their firefighters after too few minorities qualified. A group of 20 mostly white firefighters sued for reverse discrimination. Sotomayor and two other federal appeals court judges last year sided with the city. The decision is notable because some conservative Republicans have criticized Sotomayor’s views on racial preferences, some even calling her "racist." They say the Bronx-raised Latina judge may place race ahead of other issues in some of her decisions, and that she could be a liberal judicial activist.
Now, those on the left and right are weighing in as to what this means for Sotomayor’s confirmation, which is supposed to begin July 13. Her supporters, of course, say this won’t derail the process, and point out that four Supreme Court justices, two appellate judges and a lower-court judge agreed with her interpretation of the law, while those who oppose her, as well as some conservatives, say this is yet another reason to take things slow. But even some of her detractors say this isn’t enough to kill her nomination altogether.
Texas Rep. Lamar Smith, the ranking Republican on the House Judiciary Committee, called on the Senate Judiciary Committee to "carefully examine Sotomayor’s role in the 2nd Circuit’s opinion on this case. Discrimination and racial preferences have no place in our courts, let alone on the highest court in the land." Sen. Charles Schumer, D-NY, a senior Judiciary Committee member, said the ruling "in no way undercut" her prospect for confirmation, while the White House also rushed to her defense.
"The issue from the Sotomayor perspective is, does this call into question anything about her judgment? And it doesn’t," one senior White House official told The Washington Post. "The majority made it clear they are making a new rule. No one has really questioned that she did what she was supposed to do.’’
What do you think? Will this decision hurt Sotomayor’s chances at the Supreme Court job? Should it?
Read more about: Connecticut, Decision, Firefighters, New Haven, News, Reverse Discrimination, Ricci v. DeStefano, senate, Sonia Sotomayor, Supreme Court, US
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62 Reader Comments (so far…) Sign In or Register to comment
Same here. "Reverse discrimination" is a ridiculous notion. If you discriminate against someone, it’s discrimination. There are racists and haters of all shades (one only has to think of Jeremiah Wright to confirm that fact…); differentiating between them based on the victim’s skin color is absurd, and only makes the problem worse — because we’re still applying different rules to different skin tones, which is exactly what we’re supposed to be preventing.
That test was designed to prevent racial/ethnic discrimination, and to choose candidates for promotion based on qualifications alone. It just so happened that the high scorers were Hispanic and white. Those who scored high should have got promoted, and those who didn’t shouldn’t have — whatever the shade or ethnic background of the high-scorers!
Where there’s smoke….(there may not have been the most qualified firefighter)
This is another example of this womans desire to "level the playing field" that she feels is her right in the position of a Supreme Justice. Not good. She has said several times that she will deciding issues through a filter that favors her personal eperiences.
Where did impartial judgement go to? Make no mistake about it, Obama has chosen a person that reflects his desire to redistribute wealth….that means, jobs, etc.
The fix is in. Get ready…the worse will come when she is home free and the American public will have no way out. But once again, the good hearted of America will be used to excuse her all the way into office. We are suckers.
Think about it people…do you honestly think that there wasn’t ANYONE else that could be found, that had NOT made such commments, nor was so active in special interest associations?
Of course there is.
Kelly…this is very interesting:
WASHINGTON – A Puerto Rican legal advocacy group late Tuesday sent a trove of documents from Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor’s past to the Senate panel considering her nomination.
Latino Justice PRLDEF sent the Judiciary Committee more than 350 pages of documents from the 12 years Sotomayor spent on its board, opening what could be an ugly new chapter in the debate over confirming the federal appeals court judge as the first Hispanic justice.
The documents were not immediately available, and committee aides confirmed their receipt on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss them publicly.
Republicans, who have criticized Sotomayor’s involvement in the group and called it radical, signaled they were searching for clues in the documents about her stances on the many hot-button issues the civil rights organization handled.
A GOP Judiciary aide said the material details PRLDEF’s opposition to failed conservative high court nominee Robert Bork, and its ties to the community-activist group ACORN.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090701/ap_on_go_co/us_sotomayor_documents
A good point indeed, DeBurca.
"if that is the case then those same Republicans would have to also say all those white males place THEIR race ahead of other issues."
Why?