High Court Reverses Sotomayor on Firefighters Case
Patricia Murphy
Capitol Hill Bureau Chief
Posted:
06/29/09
In a 5-4 decision, the Supreme Court on Monday reversed the Second Circuit Court of Appeals on Ricci et al. v. DeStefano et al. , a reverse-discrimination case in which 20 firefighters from New Haven, Conn., known as the New Haven 20, sued the city over the civil-service test it administered as part of the promotion process for the fire department.
The case dates to 2003, when Frank Ricci and 117 other firefighters in the New Haven Fire Department took a test as a part of the department's promotion process. Of those, 41 whites, 9 blacks, and 6 Hispanics passed the exam, which included a written and oral section. A union agreement required that that the top-scoring firefighters be promoted first, so 17 whites and 2 Latinos were slated for promotion to captain or lieutenant. No blacks were in the first group.
The city of New Haven's response was eventually to toss out the test results, thereby negating the promotion list.
The Supreme Court ruled that the firefighters were the victims of reverse discrimination. Justice Anthony Kennedy, writing the opinion for the majority, said there was no evidence that the test the firefighters took was flawed and that, "fear of litigation alone cannot justify an employer's reliance on race to the detriment of individuals who passed the examinations and qualified for promotions."
Sonia Sotomayor, nominated by President Obama to the Supreme Court, was a member of the three-judge panel that upheld a lower court's judgment in favor of the city. The short, unsigned statement praised the lower court for its "thorough, thoughtful and well-reasoned opinion." The panel also said, "We are not unsympathetic to the plaintiffs' expression of frustration," but it added that the city could not be accused of violations of the Civil Rights Act when it was acting specifically to comply with the Civil Rights Act.
In his concurrence, Justice Antonin Scalia took the Appeals Court to task for its ruling. "'Sympathy" is not what petitioners have a right to demand. What they have a right to demand is evenhanded enforcement of the law... And that is what, until today's decision, has been denied them."
Monday's reversal could affect the use of race as a factor in everything from employment tests to college admissions to government contracting and the make-up and shape of Congressional districts.
Politically, it will certainly influence Sotomayor's confirmation hearings, scheduled to begin in two weeks. Last week, several Republican senators went to the Senate floor to outline their concerns over Judge Sotomayor's record, with this case high on their list.
"The Ricci case is one way the American people could get a window into Judge Sotomayor's judicial philosophy," said Texas Republican Sen. John Cornyn, another member of the committee. "The Court's decision, I believe, will tell us a great deal about whether Judge Sotomayor's philosophy ... is within the judicial mainstream or well outside of it."
Come back to Politics Daily for reaction throughout the day from Sotomayor's supporters and critics.
The case dates to 2003, when Frank Ricci and 117 other firefighters in the New Haven Fire Department took a test as a part of the department's promotion process. Of those, 41 whites, 9 blacks, and 6 Hispanics passed the exam, which included a written and oral section. A union agreement required that that the top-scoring firefighters be promoted first, so 17 whites and 2 Latinos were slated for promotion to captain or lieutenant. No blacks were in the first group.
The city of New Haven's response was eventually to toss out the test results, thereby negating the promotion list.
The Supreme Court ruled that the firefighters were the victims of reverse discrimination. Justice Anthony Kennedy, writing the opinion for the majority, said there was no evidence that the test the firefighters took was flawed and that, "fear of litigation alone cannot justify an employer's reliance on race to the detriment of individuals who passed the examinations and qualified for promotions."
Sonia Sotomayor, nominated by President Obama to the Supreme Court, was a member of the three-judge panel that upheld a lower court's judgment in favor of the city. The short, unsigned statement praised the lower court for its "thorough, thoughtful and well-reasoned opinion." The panel also said, "We are not unsympathetic to the plaintiffs' expression of frustration," but it added that the city could not be accused of violations of the Civil Rights Act when it was acting specifically to comply with the Civil Rights Act.
In his concurrence, Justice Antonin Scalia took the Appeals Court to task for its ruling. "'Sympathy" is not what petitioners have a right to demand. What they have a right to demand is evenhanded enforcement of the law... And that is what, until today's decision, has been denied them."
Monday's reversal could affect the use of race as a factor in everything from employment tests to college admissions to government contracting and the make-up and shape of Congressional districts.
Politically, it will certainly influence Sotomayor's confirmation hearings, scheduled to begin in two weeks. Last week, several Republican senators went to the Senate floor to outline their concerns over Judge Sotomayor's record, with this case high on their list.
"The Ricci case is one way the American people could get a window into Judge Sotomayor's judicial philosophy," said Texas Republican Sen. John Cornyn, another member of the committee. "The Court's decision, I believe, will tell us a great deal about whether Judge Sotomayor's philosophy ... is within the judicial mainstream or well outside of it."
Come back to Politics Daily for reaction throughout the day from Sotomayor's supporters and critics.