Today is the last day of the Supreme Court's session, and all eyes -- well, many eyes -- will be on Ricci v. DeStefano. That's the lawsuit brought against the city of New Haven, Conn., by white firefighters alleging reverse discrimination regarding promotions.

It's being especially closely watched because of the role played in the rejection of the firefighters' claims by a three-judge panel of the the U.S. Court of Appeals, 2nd Circuit -- a panel that included Sonia Sotomayor, who is President Obama's nominee to fill a vacancy on the U.S. Supreme Court.

Both pro- and anti-Sotomayor advocacy groups are ready to interpret whatever the Supreme Court decides. Some, like the liberal People For the American Way, are not even waiting for the decision (which is expected to overturn the three-judge panel).

Marge Baker, the executive VP for PFAW, who seems to be expecting a reversal, issued a statement this morning that said whatever the court rules today, it "will not reflect upon Sotomayor's jurisprudence."

Sotomayor and her panel colleagues were bound by longstanding precedent and federal law. They applied the law without regard to their personal views and unanimously affirmed the district court ruling. To do anything but would have been judicial activism.


The full Second Circuit backed up the panel, which came as no surprise. Nearly ten years earlier a Second Circuit panel -- consisting of three GOP nominees -- reached the same conclusion in a similar case (Hayden v. County of Nassau).

When a case virtually identical to Ricci came before the Sixth Circuit -- Oakley v. Memphis -- a panel rejected the plaintiffs' claims and affirmed the district court ruling. Notably, they did so in an unpublished summary order, and one of the three judges was conservative Bush nominee Richard Allen Griffin.

In other words, Sotomayor is anything but an outlier. She and the seven other federal judges who decided Ricci and Oakley at the district and circuit levels were unanimous in determining that precedent and federal law required the rejection of the suits.

The other political case many are watching is Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, which will decide whether Hillary The Movie is subject to regulation.

categories: Approaching the Bench

9:45 - June 29, 2009

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