A judicial embarrassment

The Supreme Court of the United States reversed a decision today that will prove to be a major embarrassment to the Obama Administration. The decision the Court reversed involves an appellate decision rendered by Supreme Court nominee Sonja Sotomayor against a group of New Haven, Connecticut firefighters who sued their employer, the City of New Haven, for racial discrimination. For those unfamiliar with the case, the City of New Haven tested firefighters who were interested in attaining the rank of lieutenant or captain and to its dismay found out that among those who passed the test and qualified, there were absolutely no Aftrican-Americans and only two Hispanics.

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In an effort to enforce the PC concept of diversity, the City of New Haven basically threw out the test results and advised those who passed the test that they would not be considered for promotion, given that so few “minorities” were able to pass. Those who passed the test and were thus deemed to be ineligible for promotion took legal action action against New Haven led by one Frank Ricci, a firefighter who because of extreme dyslexia went through considerable effort as well as expense to prepare himself for the examination. The court ruled that New Haven did not act discriminatorily when it nullified the tests, accepting the city’s claim that they did so in order to avoid a discrimination lawsuit which would surely be brought by minority firefighters if the test results were allowed to stand. The ruling was appealed to the appellate court on which Sotomayor sat. The appeal was denied by a three-judge panel that basically agreed with New Haven that it was legal for the city to discriminate against those who passed the test in efforts to avoid another discrimination lawsuit from minorities. However, that decision was criticized for producing a perfunctory opinion that failed to deal with "indisputably complex and far from well-settled" questions, in the words of another appeals court judge, Jose Cabranes, who also happens to be Sotomayor’s mentor. "This perfunctory disposition rests uneasily with the weighty issues presented by this appeal," Cabranes said, in a dissent from the full 2nd Circuit's decision not to hear the case. The reversal of the decision in which Sotomayor helped uphold the principle of an employer’s ability to discriminate against its employees, so long as those being discriminated against are not members of “minority” groups, demonstrates a return to sanity based on sound constitutional reasoning and represents and embarrassment to the president. Given that his first nominee for the Court has had one of her recent rulings overturned (Along with about 30% of all of her rulings that went on to the High Court) is indicative of the philosophy currently in vogue in Washington. Sen. Patrick Leahy, chairman of the Judiciary Committee, attempted to minimize the impact of the Court’s reversal by defending Sotomayor’s ruling. "Judge Sotomayor and the lower court panel did what judges are supposed to do, they followed precedent," said the apparent expert in Constitutional Law who will preside over Sotomayor's confirmation hearings next month. Nothing new there as this represents a usurping of American constitutional jurisprudence. But at least the court’s ruling is giving Americans an alternative view to the Nanny State nightmare that Obama and the Democratic Party are attempting to foist upon the hapless populace. A few more such rulings and who knows, maybe the nation’s citizens will wake up.