Supreme Court Disagrees With Sotomayor On Ricci

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Jun 29 2009, 10:39 am by Chris Good

The Supreme Court has overturned one of Sonia Sotomayor's more talked-about rulings, siding with a group of white firefighters in a 5-4 decision on Ricci v. DeStefano.

Sotomayor had ruled against the firefighters, who filed suit after being denied promotions because an examination for advancement yielded no eligible black firefighters. This case was prime fodder for Sotomayor's opponents, who insinuated racism on her part before any of the "wise Latina" quote was stirred with Newt Gingrich and Rush Limbaugh's criticism--before, in fact, Sotomayor was named as President Obama's nominee.

Sotomayor was on a three-judge panel that rejected the complaint in an appeals court.

The reversal of her decision will likely provide more fodder. More on the decision later today...

Comments (1)

John Thacker June 29, 2009 12:01 PM

As Footnote 10 in Justice Ginsburg's dissent also criticizes how Judge Sotomayor and the Second Circuit panel handled the case, indicating that the four Justices in dissent also felt that the panel did not address the issues (and thus were hasty in the summary dismissal), even though they felt that the case was not clear enough and the that firefighters would have a difficult time winning:

10. The lower courts focused on respondents’ “intent” rather than on whether respondents in fact had good cause to act. See 554 F. Supp. 2d 142, 157 (Conn. 2006). Ordinarily, a remand for fresh consideration would be in order. But the Court has seen fit to preclude further proceedings. I therefore explain why, if final adjudication by this Court is indeed appropriate, New Haven should be the prevailing party.

So even they would have asked the Second Circuit to try against and more fully explore the case instead of dismissing it.