The Judicial Temperament of Justice Sotomayer

Justice is blind, but apparently not color blind!

The Judicial Temperament of Justice Sotomayer may be exemplified by her ruling in Ricci vs. DeStefano, the New Haven firefighter case.

One hundred and eighteen people took the tests; 56 passed. Nineteen of the top scorers were eligible for promotion to 15 open lieutenant and captain positions. Based on the test results, the city said that no minorities would have been eligible for lieutenant, and two Hispanics would have been eligible for captain. (The lawsuit was filed by 20 white plaintiffs, including one man who is both white and Hispanic.)

Unfortunately, no blacks scored high enough on the test to qualify for advancement, therefore, rather than promote the qualified, the city chose not to promote anyone.

The promotion exams were closely focused on firefighting methods, knowledge and skills. The first part had 200 multiple-choice questions and counted for 60 percent of the final score. Candidates returned another day to take an oral exam in which they described responses to various scenarios, which counted for 40 percent.

If the city had discriminated for or against any candidate based on race or skin color, that would have been unconscionable. But to discriminate again those men who passed the test and were eligible for promotion on the basis of what another group did or didn't do is equally wrong. Ms. Sotomayor, who has stated that "...a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male." thought otherwise.

Her one paragraph contribution to the decision was considered light weight*. Unfortunately, when the case comes before the US Supreme Court, one of the justices will probably be Sonia Sotomayor.

Update: *Although I had this on good authority, in searching the document itself, I could not find any portion of the decision attributed specifically to her.

Cross posted at Say Anything