Liberal Obama Nominee For Supreme Court Showed Her Prejudice

The Supreme Court rejected Judge Sonia Sotomayor’s appeals court decision in the well publicized 20 white firefighters case Ricci vs. DeStefano in New Haven Connecticut.  In a 5- 4 decision the Supreme Court said New Haven was wrong to scrap a promotion exam because no African-Americans and only two Hispanic firefighters were likely to be made lieutenants or captains based on results.



The ruling could alter employment practices nationwide, potentially limiting the circumstances in which employers can be held liable for decisions when there is no evidence of intentional discrimination against minorities.

Justice Anthony Kennedy said, "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." He was joined in the majority by Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Samuel Alito, Antonio Scalia and Clarence Thomas.

Fifty-six firefighters passed the exams, including 41 whites, nine blacks and six Hispanics. But of those, only 17 whites and two Hispanics could expect promotion.  The city eventually decided not to use the exam to determine promotions. It said it did this because it might have been vulnerable to claims that the exam had a "disparate impact" on minorities in violation of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

The white firefighters said the decision violated the same law's prohibition on intentional discrimination. The lawsuit was filed by 20 white plaintiffs, including one man who is both white and Hispanic.

Kennedy said an employer needs a "strong basis in evidence" to believe it will be held liable in a disparate impact lawsuit. New Haven had no such evidence, he said.  The city declined to validate the test after it was given, a step that could have identified flaws or determined that there were no serious problems with it. In addition, city officials could not say what was wrong with the test, other than the racially skewed results.

Judge Ginsburg said the court should have assessed "the starkly disparate results" of the exams against the backdrop of historical and ongoing inequality in the New Haven fire department. As of 2003, she said, only one of the city's 21 fire captains was African-American.   Until this decision, Ginsburg said, the civil rights law's prohibitions on intentional discrimination and disparate impact were complementary, both aimed at ending workplace discrimination.

Judge Ginsberg then said, "Today's decision sets these paired directives at odds."
Judge Ginsburg and Judge Sotomayor are both wrong.  Judge Sotomayor showed her prejudice in her original decision against the firefighters and it passed the test.  Judge Ginsburg is wrong because the civil rights laws prohibits intentional discrimination at work.  An outside entity designed the test for all firefighters.  It is discrimination to not promote firefighters who passed the test.

America let your Senators know that we don’t need judges like Judge Sotomayor on the Supreme Court.  We need judges who uphold the Constitution and don’t try to write law from the bench.

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