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I am new to this forum and did not see if someone had commented on this subject soooo i would like to bring it back up as i had heard about it again the other day. i found this and was very happy to see it..
WASHINGTON - -- The Supreme Court's reversal Monday of a discrimination ruling involving a group of white Connecticut firefighters has provided critics of high court nominee Sonia Sotomayor with some fresh buckshot.
Republican senators and conservative groups contend that the 5-4 ruling represents a rebuke of Sotomayor's handling of the case, Ricci v. DeStefano. She was on a three-judge panel of the federal appeals court in New York that heard the action and sided against the white firefighters.
"This case will only raise more questions in the minds of the American people concerning Judge Sotomayor's commitment to treat each individual fairly and not as a member of a group," said Sen. Jeff Sessions of Alabama, the top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Sotomayor's confirmation hearings begin July 13.
The New Haven, Conn., firefighters sued under federal civil rights laws after the results of a promotion test were thrown out. The city feared it would face a lawsuit from black and Hispanic firefighters who claimed the tests had a discriminatory effect. The white plaintiffs lost at the trial court and before Sotomayor's appeals court panel.
Sotomayor's critics have contended that the way her panel disposed of the case -- through a three-paragraph, unsigned opinion -- was as bad as the result. By contrast, the Supreme Court's ruling Monday was nearly 100 pages.
"Not only did Judge Sotomayor misapply the law, but the perfunctory way in which she and her panel dismissed the firefighters' meritorious claims of unfair treatment is particularly troubling," said Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.
But Sotomayor's supporters said she and the panel were simply applying the governing federal law at the time to the claims of the white firefighters, which allowed New Haven to discard the exam.
"She is not imposing her own opinions on the law," said Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., a member of the Judiciary Committee. "She is following the law rigorously."
Schumer said that the narrow margin on the high court -- four justices, including Justice David Souter, whom Sotomayor would replace, backed the appeals court's result -- "bolsters the fact that she is a mainstream judge."