Racism rejected: SCOTUS reverses Sotomayor in firefighters case
President Obama applauds the decision as a victory for equality under the law. Not.
The Supreme Court has ruled that white firefighters in New Haven, Conn., were unfairly denied promotions because of their race, reversing a decision that high court nominee Sonia Sotomayor endorsed as an appeals court judge.
SCOTUS Blog background here. More background here and here.
Tom Goldstein: “Ricci result: Kennedy finds a violation of Title VII. An outright reversal 5-4…the plaintiff firefighters won. New Haven violated the law by throwing out the test.”
Sotomayor = Not so wise now.
***
The Ricci opinion is now available here.
At Cato, Roger Pilon and Ilya Shapiro weigh in.
And Wendy Long at the Judicial Confirmation Network responds to the decision:
Judicial Confirmation Network: NOT EVEN ONE JUSTICE APPROVED SOTOMAYER IN RICCI CASE
“Frank Ricci finally got his day in court, despite the judging of Sonia Sotomayor, which all nine Justices of U.S. Supreme Court have now confirmed was in error.
“Usually, poor performance in any profession is not rewarded with the highest job offer in the entire profession.
“What Judge Sotomayor did in Ricci was the equivalent of a pilot error resulting in a bad plane crash. And now the pilot is being offered to fly Air Force One.
“The firefighters in New Haven who protect the public safety and worked hard for their promotions did not deserve to become victims of racial quotas, and the Supreme Court has now confirmed that they did not deserve to have their claims buried and thrown out by Judge Sotomayor.”
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Categories: Race relations,Sonia Sotomayor
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Good decision. Straight down party lines, too.
Finally some good news out of Washington.
Sonia Sotomayor = WEAK on equal rights.
Good to see even handed justice.
Sweeeeet!
I would love to have been a fly on the wall watching the lawyer for the city argue that the city, in a deep blue state like CT, made a biased exam.
And similarly, how do you make a test of firefighting racist?
The slap Sotomayor took stung all the way over here. Must have left a mark on her! Hopefully a political mark….
We need more of this good news!
Errah, a wise Latina . . . .
Did I just hear a bus engine start up at the White House??
Now that this is over, I would like to see the actual test, and hope that New Haven releases it.
This travesty of injustice will be corrected once the multicultural icon of justice is confirmed by the Senate.
I think Sen Hatch is Right when he said that we should do the 14th amendment over again and say this time we really mean it.
I don’t get it, I was taught that judges hate to have their decisions overturned on appeal, if that is true then ideological judges would start ruling according to the law and not how they “feel”. The 9th Circuit never seems to mind wasting money and time having a great deal of their decisions overturned. But, I guess when the SCOTUS is packed with judges who get to make decisions on how they feel (like Sotomayer), it will not make much of any difference.
Hurray! For once, the good guys win!
It really did seem like an obvious decision. Imagine the outrage if a black person rightfully qualified for a position but they threw out the qualifications and gave it to a white person.
It’s a shame that the government can be used as a weapon to keep the most qualified people from doing jobs in America.
Sotomayor needs to ask herself if we want to judge people on the content of their character or the color of their skin. She obviously chose color of their skin in this case.
Clearly the problem is the majority does not have the richness of life experiences that would have enabled them to see the institutional racism that was work here as it is absolutely everywhere in our society.
/sarc off
Well, it is obvious that at least 5 SCOTUS members aren’t “wise Latinas.” Frankly, whether this impacts Sotomayor at all remains to be seen. When is the last time facts and reality got in the way of what the Dems wanted to do?
If Sotomayor withdraws the next nominee will be just as bad or worse but will have exercised enough common sense not to broadcast their stupidity from the four corners of the earth.
They don’t give up. We must not either.
the idiot child’s ruling overturned, this is becoming a habit. it would seem this brilliant judicial mind is not, only racially motivated.
Makes sense. Sotomayor didn’t get to where she is on her own merit, so no change there.
She even admitted to having poorer test scores, as well as being selected in law school because of affirmative action.
We really don’t need her kind at the Supreme Court.
Obama’s only reason for choosing her is because of her sex and ethnicity. The ultimate affirmative action position in this country.
Great decision. It restores my “faith” in the Supreme Court, at least as it is comprised right now. But somehow I think they will ram Sotomayer’s appointment to SCOTUS through regardless. Makes no sense? Neither does Cap and Tax, but it is the liberal wacko way, doncha know.
Any lawyers here?
Seems like this Title VII provision of disparate impact is always going to conflict with claiming racial discrimination.
I’ll keep reading backgrounds but seems like loop the loop to me.
Fixed.
HHHHMMMMM she has been overturned 60% of the time by SC and now AGAIN.
Logic tells me she is is NOT fit to be on the SC bench.
She is obviously oblivious to the Constitution!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Heh. Something ironic about the Supreme Court reversing an affirmative action decision endorsed by an affirmative action pick for the Supreme Court.
On a serious note, the ideological divide on the Supreme Court shows how important it is to fight 100% for strict constitutionalists and 100% against liberals for the SCOTUS.
Thus, she is a shoe-in to be appointed. THEY won, remember? And shredding the Constitution is their game.
affirmative action rewards those lacking any intellectual prowess and then lets them believe they earned the education and are indeed smart. the ultimate lie.
You can’t make this stuff up. The “One’s” first pick for SCOTUS is reversed. The 5-4 split on this reversal should be shot across the bow for the “knot headed” Republicans in the Senate. Giving deference to this president’s picks is just plain STUPID.
How this was a 5-4 decision is NOT only amazing it’s appalling!
This should have CLEARLY been a 9-0 ruling!
Sotomayor, not fit for the Bench in any court and Unqualified for SCOTUS.
The New Racism lost today. Recognize it for what it is. I can only hope and pray that this is a trend.
No, actually affirmative action is one of the most bigoted policies I can think of. At its core, it’s inherently racist (and not just against white people). I do agree, however, that it has caused a severe decline in intellectual prowess – especially in the inner city black neighborhoods, where kids who attempt to do well in school are ridiculed by their peers (and sometimes the adults) as “acting white.”
The implication behind affirmative action is that no minority is smart or talented enough to get ahead in this world without the government stacking the deck for them.
That’s the exact opposite of racial equality and part of what is now called “the soft bigotry of low expectations.” Because it sure sounds racist to me for affirmative action proponents to believe no minority can get ahead without their help.
We have an affirmative action president.
AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!
A depressing victory…
Truth, justice, and integrity won only by 5-4. It does not constitute a significant indictment of Sotomayor…we here may feel that identifying her with the four-justice liberal wing of the court is a body slam against her, but only conservatives will feel that way.
And against the joy of this narrow victory, we must face the hopelessness of our chances — in the foreseeable future — of strengthening our thin majority on the court…not even a ~consistent~ majority, although we won this one.
The major benefit of today’s decision, IMO, is that it focuses the attention of the nation on legalized racism. As far down as conservatism is at this moment, in the broad political struggle, it is nonetheless the case that most Americans share the conservative view on this case and on affirmative action in general. Thus, we have a teachable moment. We need to make the most of the Sotomayor hearings.
Ignorant remark from lgm in 4…3….2…
I’m glad to see that Souter went the same way Sotomeyer would have. At least I can take some comfort with the fact that a liberal will be replaced with a liberal.
Other than liberals Ginsburg, Stevens & Breyer, are there any others that are close to retiring during the reign of OB?
But with the deaths of Farrah, Michael & Billy all under the age of 65, I guess anyone can die. But SC justices tend to live a long time.
The sickening thing about this is the fact that without five conservative judges, liberals would have made reverse discrimination the law of the land. FOUR voted FOR it.
Simple, you ask questions that have clear right-or-wrong answers, count all of the right answers as correct and all of the wrong answers as incorrect. Then, you tally up the score. Whoever has the most correct answers is the most qualified and whoever has the most incorrect answers is the least qualified.
Notice I did not mention race at all??
Side note (as a volunteer and part-time paid firefighter/EMT and a volunteer EMS Chief – elected annually by my peers) – There IS more than book-smarts…I’ve seen some people who’ve scored VERY high on written tests that cannot seem to transition from test-taking to practical use of that knowledge in real incidents.
OT, but I wouldn’t take that as an omen. Farrah had cancer, Michael Jackson had a slew of problems (most of which we’ll never understand), and Billy was in a freak accident (a la Natasha Richardson).
Did you read Ginsburg’s dissenting opinion? She basically said that if you’re black you’re too stupid to pass a test unless it’s rigged.
Why isn’t she being called racist?
I was especially chilled by the Ginsburg opinion also signed by the usual suspects. No regard for standards, no matter what happens a certain race will be hired. I thought thats what Lincoln, MLK and many others fought to stop.
After reading the blurb from La Ginsburg’s dissent…good lord. We’re doomed!
In reading the dissent, Ginsberg basically says giving a written/oral test is racist. I’m guessing now that she also believes that the MCATs and bar exams are also racist and should be abandoned. In fact, why have any written exams at all? It’s not like you really need to read or write to be in a managerial position (sarcasm on).
No one ever accused her of being fair or impartial. She is full-steam-ahead-liberal.
Hurrah!
OBambi hasn’t scared everybody apparently.
If by chance she gets a seat on the court, this decision should make for great working relationships with the other Justices…/sarc off…
Thanks, Justice Ginsburg, for proving my point above.
Yet another black mark against the “unWise Latina” that will be TEE TOTALLY IGNORED by Duh One, the Lame Steam Media, and by Congressional RINO’s.
Too bad this decision was not her death blow.
And I can’t help but wonder if there might have been more votes in favor of the fire fighters if Sotomayor’s confirmation was not pending. I wouldn’t hold it past the four dissenting members to base their decision so as not to embarrass a potential colleague.
Reading Justice Ginsburg’s dissent, she indicated that the fire fighters had no vested right to a promotion. I’m still trying to figure out what she meant by that…
I agree. Why was this decided along liberal/conservative lines? Aren’t these decisions supposed to be made by strict adherence to the laws of the land and the Constitution? Sounds like there are 4 people on the SCOTUS who make their decisions based on their “feelings of fairness” or other such garbage. We are close to losing the highest court in the country. Just two appointments away from having a totally “in the tank for Soros” SCOTUS. Sotomayar MUST be stopped. Unfortunately, Teh One will have another chance and may find someone even further left.
I always wanted airplanes designed by affirmative action grads…and I’ve always thought that diversity was more important in the operating room than competence.
Plus, it’s always a good idea to find the guy who really couldn’t quite pass the tests to be the one responsible for nuclear secrets.
?do I need the sarc tag?
Are we all equal under the eyes of the law or not.
What chance to do the rest of serf whiteys have in this hussein world?
When I become dictator-of-the-universe, the 4 “justices” (what does their ruling have to do with “justice”?) who voted against the plaintiffs would be forced to use affirmative action beneficiaries for the rest of their lives. Forget being “green.” I will force them to the forefront of the new “100% AA” movement.
For instance, trapped in a burning building? Only those firefighters who got jobs/promotions through affirmative action will be allowed to try to save them. If they make it out but have injuries, only doctors/nurses who got their medical degrees via affirmative action will be allowed to treat them.
Cars they drive will have to be designed and built 100% by AA hires. Need some work done on the old homestead? Only AA hires will be allowed on the job site. Only servers hired through AA will be allowed to wait on them at their favorite restaurants. They will only be allowed to cheer for sports teams whose racial makeup is perfectly proportioned to the country as a whole.
If they think affirmative action is so good, they should live their lives accordingly.
Too bad we didn’t have this decision in Dallas many years ago when police officers and firefighters were being passed over for promotion.
Yeah that stuck out to me as well.
Hey, in 2012 you can vote for my husband as Divine Right Monarch of the United States. That means I’ll be the Empress, and this nonsense will end.
Or you can wait until 2020 and elect me president.
Either way, I’m cool with it.
How long before they are forced to hire terrorists from GITMO?
Happyscrapper said it also. I want to see the dissenting opinion (if there is one written) justifying those 4 votes. They must have tied themselves in knots in their (il)logic.
To quote Ginsberg:
So, let’s see here. Since no one got promoted in the first place, the firefighters have no right to a promotion? Isn’t this a case of…since we threw out the promotion in the first place, no one got promoted, so there!
What????
I don’t her her “argument”. I guess I have to go back and read the entire thing from the Supreme Court website.
The dissenting opinion was utterly stunning in its utter lack of any logic whatsoever. Very disturbing.
madshark said:
My thoughts exactly.
Had Sotomayor been on the court, the decision would have gone the other way. Right now the court consists of four radical conservatives, one normal conservative (Kennedy), and four moderates. Being reversed by such a group is no shame.
Sarc =
And how about air traffic controllers?
What part of equality does the left not understand? Rhetorical question only.
Justice for those that did the work and made the grade – those white, black and hispanic that did the work and got it done. Sadly we live in a world where every failure has an excuse. If you can’t pass the test it’s somebody else’s fault. It’s racism. Pitiful little race-mongers.
Anyone else notice GINSBURG’s entire dissent was a rant about the other judges that ruled in opposition? These are the piss ant little judges the Socialist Progressive Democrats want ruling along with Obama, Pelosi and Reed.
Race-mongers, don’t go away mad. Just go away. Maybe you should study harder next time like those that did the work.
No. She’s replacing a flaming Lib. No change. I like how you characterize Ruth Bader-Ginsberg as a ‘moderate’. You’re showing your stripes.
I guess you can’t figure out what EQUAL RIGHTS really means, LGM…
I agree, but that’s precisely why conservatives should be celebrating this victory as such: regardless of how narrow the decision may have been, it’s still the perfect opportunity to clearly illustrate the differences and implications of judicial activism and restraint upon the everyday lives of Americans.
This celebratory decision also affords conservatives the chance to reopen the dialog on Sotomayor’s preconceived world-view on social justice issues delineating how that view has affected prior and possibly future rulings, and to impress upon the public the need for their attentiveness in the nomination and confirmation processes of judges – especially of those to the SC!
ginsberg’s dissent is typical of one so biased. she is truly racist and frankly intellectually challenged. great minds make hard decisions and rulings, those with very little brain power weigh in with agendas and personal beliefs as relevent in their rulings. ginsberg is an aclu hack, nuff said.
Okay, I certainly disagree with your characterization of the people on the court, but what do you think of the merits of the case?
The entire case is public knowledge, so you cannot hide behind the mantra that there is information we do not know and therefore cannot comment with any credibility. The information is out, and the case is well publicized.
So, again, what do you think of the case itself?
I was wondering if LGM would justify denying promotions based on race. Apparantly he can’t support his girls position.
On June 29th, 2009 at 11:27 am, Dexter Alarius said:
No. She’s replacing a flaming Lib. No change. I like how you characterize Ruth Bader-Ginsberg as a ‘moderate’. You’re showing your stripes.
Radical conservative? ROFL Could you be more of an idiot. Last time I saw radical – it came from the left. Case in point? Liberals fighting for the rights of terrorists.
Shh, don’t let the MSM find this out; they might cry.
Clearly you can’t do math.
Sotomayor is replacing someone who’s liberal.
1 – 1 + 1 = 1. Unless, of course, you’re speculating that Sotomayor’s “wise Latina” vibes would suddenly make the rational members of the court vote in favor of blatant racial discrimination.
To you, “equal rights” clearly mean whatever screws over the white guy the most (bonus points if they’re conservative and Christian).
http://www.supremecourtus.gov/opinions/08pdf/07-1428.pdf
WHAT DO YOU THINK? The idiot “thinks” that Sotomayor was RIGHT, and that race ought to be used as a basis for deciding who can or who cannot be in a position within an organization or occupation.
What does one do with such an abstract thought?
I believe the word he was looking for is reactionary given that ‘radical conservative’ is an oxymoron.
But we’ll happily accept the fact that he believes that being a radical has a negative connotation.
A little off subject:
Madoff has been sentenced to 150 yrs in prison according to Fox News.
The truth about admission tests here.
The Supremes got it right!
No though. Just knee-jerk blabbery. BTW lgm, what are you batting today? Is it still ZERO?
Agreed. The MSM is already covering for her…my talk radio station, though it carries Rush and Hannity, contracts with ABC for its news bulletins. The case got a passing, two-second blurb on my drive to work today…and was referred to as a “case brought by Connecticut firefighters.” No mention of Sotomayor whatsoever. I wonder: will they mention her now that she’s been reversed? Or will that be an even bigger enticement to hide the facts? Ugh.
I agree with this decision. What bothers we is it’s political and Constitutional Law has nothing to do with it.The sad thing about justice today is , it’s not only blind ,but selective, political and most often not just.
Excellent. Keep slapping the little troll down…
A 5-4 vote?!?!? You know, LibLand, where they voted logic out too. “Feelings, nothing more than feelings.”
So goes the mind of the moonbat lib. Not surprising, but yes, very disturbing. And this kind of thinking is in the majority of Congress and completely dominates the mind of our very own POTHUS. Sigh. Back to the rubber room for me.
BTW, this decision (the one that had to be made if any justice remained on this court) ought to be a HUGE nail in Sotomayor’s coffin. The question of whether she can interpret LAW rather than bringing her enormous societal biases into cases she’d face ought to doom her for EVER being considered to be on the Supreme Court.
Ok, I just spent 40 minutes reading the comments of the justices.
I will start by saying Ginsberg’s answers scare me (especially if Sotomayor is like her).
She begins by giving an accounting of the history of Title VII, talking about the discrimination that took place in New Haven in the late 1960′s, and basically not mentioning any facts in the case.
That’s fine, but does that mean that Ricci and other firefighters who passed their exam should be skipped over for promotion when they pass the test that is approved by the Union and was administered by a panel of which 60% were minorities?
She goes on to say:
WHAT??? They scored the highest on the exams administered by the City in a way that was approved by the Union! As per this measurement tool, they, in fact, had a vested right in promotion.
Ginsberg then says:
Why does this matter? Is a hispanic person whose house is burning to the ground going to care about the race of the lieutenant who is trying to save the house? Is Ginsberg saying that a wise-hispanic lieutenant will save the house better because he/she is hispanic?
Nowhere in the dissent did Ginsberg once mention the performance of those who have passed the written exam. Instead of focusing on the actual results of those who pass exams, Ginsberg focuses on the fact that the exam produced too many whites over minorities.
In addition, Ginsberg bases most of her dissent on the testimony of one Christopher Hornick, who operates a consulting business that DIRECTLY COMPETES with the company that created and administered the New Haven firefighters exam in 2003 and who admitted that he did not
However, even Hornick would recommend that New Haven
Naturally, Ginsberg leaves this out of her remarks.
All in all, Ginsberg’s dissenting opinion brings no real evidence of intentional discrimination against minorities and no basis for a Title VII lawsuit, which is why the city didn’t certify the results.
The job of a firefighter is to save lives. If my life is on the line, I hope that the person in charge is the best for the job, not someone who’s there to fill a quota.
Instead of measuring an exams success by the number of minorities who pass, exams should be measured by the results of the individuals who pass them.
The city of New Haven failed to certify the results of an exam because they were AFRAID of being sued for discrimination, even though no one was able to put forth a viable alternative that would have allowed vacant leadership positions to be filled in the city within a reasonable amount of time.
Sotomayor upheld this injustice.
HAHAHAHA!!! Yer killin’ me here! HAHAHAHA!!!
*Rolling on the floor holding my sides*
Ahhh, that was a good one lgm! You shoulda been a stand up comodian (no, I didn’t mispell that).
But, now, let’s be serious.
Thanks, but I get an error everytime I try to open it. I’ll have to try again from home later.
What is being missed in all of this controversy is correcting the actual root cause of the REAL problem.
No one has challeged the content of the test. Therefore, the concern should be correcting those things that caused all of the black applicants to fail the test.
Instead of addressing the real issue liberals wold rather just keep on play the role of “Massa up in the big house caring for all the darkies who can’t learn like the white folk.” I find their attitude to be the one that is bigotted.
If I were one of the surviving Tuskeegee airmen who put that myth to bed almost 70 years ago, I would be thoroughly indignant. I would hope the emphasis would be on creating the conditions where people who are truly motivated have the opportunity to learn and pass this kind of a test.
People like the four dissenting SCOTUS members are doing nothing to truly further equality in this country. Failure in this instance is a positive, because points out an opportunity for improvement.
Supreme court??? Any judge whose decisions have been overturned on appeal 60% of the time has no business presiding over traffic court, much less sitting on an appelate court.
Well, justice remains on the court for now, but 4 out of 9 very WRONG votes should never happen in the highest court of the land. This is the place where final, absolute authority rests. And we currently have 4 out of 9 justices who consistently vote with their head up their a$$. If Obama gets his way (and he will) all the future SC Justices will be so far left, there will be no more justice in America. Fits in perfectly with his ideology.
Sotomayor’s judicial and litigious makeup is the antithesis to justice, and as such should never set foot in the Supreme Court building, unless she’s part of a public tour.
lgm: Being reversed is being reversed. She has been shown to be lacking in reasoning, logic, understanding of the Constitution, the law, however you want to state it, she has BEEN REVERSED!!!
Maybe, just maybe, this will begin the end of racism that began in 1964, actively established by liberals.
lgm should give up his job to a more deserving minority then he could spend the majority of his time working under the bridge.
Once again, elections matter. This was almost on ideological lines and sadly, there were still 4 justices who think the white man must be the whipping boy for all of America’s “sins.”
Hey LGM, since you are such an advocate of affirmative action why don’t you resign your position and let a minority of any kind take your place. Then you can join the unemployment ranks and start over just like everyone else who doesn’t qualify for affirmative action benefits. I know you are too much of a coward to even respond.
On June 29th, 2009 at 10:35 am, xler8bmw said:
I agree 100%.
In my opinion, only the best and brightest deserve whatever job or position they are competing for.
If not enough minorities aren’t getting the positions, then it should be a wake up call to study harder, train harder, etc.
Jobs and positions should not be given to those who don’t qualify. Plain and simple.
but lgm, what do you think of the ruling?