Posted on 07/16/2009 3:12:38 PM PDT by Syncro
Two firefighters whose reverse discrimination claim was rejected by Sonia Sotomayor criticized her handling of the sensitive case on Thursday.
“Americans have the right to go into our federal courts and have their cases judged based on the Constitution and our laws, not on politics and personal feelings,” said Frank Ricci, the lead plaintiff in the case, Ricci v. DeStefano, at Sotomayor’s Supreme Court confirmation hearing.
Ricci was joined at the Senate Judiciary Committee witness table by Ben Vargas, both whom scored high on a New Haven, Conn., firefighters’ promotion exam that was later rejected out of concern it might prompt lawsuits by lower-scoring minorities.
The three-judge appellate court ruling in which Sotomayor took part upheld the city’s action, but in a 5-4 decision, the Supreme Court said the city was wrong to have thrown out the exam results.
Vargas echoed concerns raised by Republican senators about why Sotomayor’s panel issued a short, unsigned opinion rather than explaining its reasoning more fully.
“I expected Lady Justice with the blindfolds on and a reasoned opinion from a federal court of appeals, telling me, my fellow plaintiffs and the public what the court’s view on the law was and do it in an open and transparent way,” Vargas said. “Instead, we were devastated to see a one-paragraph unpublished order summarily dismissing our case and indeed even the notion that we had presented important legal issues to that court of appeals.”
Sotomayor said Wednesday she and her fellow panelists of the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals believed the 78-page decision issued by a federal trial court in the case “adequately explained the questions that the Supreme Court addressed and reviewed.”
“Not every case requires a long opinion if a district court opinion has been clear and thorough on an issue,” Sotomayor said.
That answer didn’t satisfy Orrin G. Hatch , R-Utah, who said just before the firefighters’ testimony that the Ricci case was “the one thing that really bothered me” about Sotomayor’s record.
“They wanted to sweep it under the rug,” Hatch said.
Ricci did not mention Sotomayor by name while Vargas prefaced his comments about the case by saying, ““I am Hispanic and proud of the heritage and background that Judge Sotomayor and I share, and I congratulate Judge Sotomayor on her nomination.”
Bar Association Rating
Ricci and Vargas are among 31 outside witnesses who were schedule to testify during the final portion of the hearing, now in its fourth day. Two representatives of the American Bar Association led off with an explanation of the organization’s highest rating for Sotomayor.
As part of their review, the ABA’s witnesses said the organization spoke to more than 500 lawyers, and “less than 10” of those, mostly lawyers who don’t practice in the 2nd Circuit, mentioned Sotomayor’s temperament as an issue.
During questioning, Lindsey Graham , R-S.C., had asked Sotomayor about anonymous comments in the Almanac of the Federal Judiciary raising concerns about her temperament.
Democratic witnesses on the first panel included New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg; Robert Morgenthau, the New York County District Attorney in whose office Sotomayor worked after graduating from Yale Law School; and Dustin McDaniel, Arkansas Attorney General.
Keith Perine contributed to this story.
So she wasn't in the room when the firefighters testified.
I read elsewhere that Sotomayor said she made her decision because there was no precedent to rule in their favor.“I expected Lady Justice with the blindfolds on and a reasoned opinion from a federal court of appeals, telling me, my fellow plaintiffs and the public what the court’s view on the law was and do it in an open and transparent way,” Vargas said. “Instead, we were devastated to see a one-paragraph unpublished order summarily dismissing our case and indeed even the notion that we had presented important legal issues to that court of appeals.”
Sotomayor said Wednesday she and her fellow panelists of the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals believed the 78-page decision issued by a federal trial court in the case “adequately explained the questions that the Supreme Court addressed and reviewed.”
“Not every case requires a long opinion if a district court opinion has been clear and thorough on an issue,” Sotomayor said.
That answer didn’t satisfy Orrin G. Hatch , R-Utah, who said just before the firefighters’ testimony that the Ricci case was “the one thing that really bothered me” about Sotomayor’s record.
Well, she could have made one if she didn't want to block white (and one Hispanic) firefighters just because no blacks passed the test.
Instead the Supreme Court had to reverse her decision.
And now she is going to be on the Supreme court?
Outrageous!
Hatch, R-Utah, said just before the firefighters’ testimony that the Ricci case was “the one thing that really bothered me” about Sotomayor’s record.Come on Orin, that's all that bothered you?
: > )
As Ben Vargas was bravely giving testimony in the pit of VIPERS, that smug, leaky leahy was so rudely - HE WAS NOT EVEN MAN ENOUGH TO LISTEN TO MR. VARGAS TESTIMONY, HE WAS READING AND SHUFFLING PAPERS!!!!!!!/Just Asking - seoul62.......
Leahy is evil. He has engaged in politically motivated assassination and murders.
Gays > Blacks > Hispanics > Whites > Christians
Why should he or any other Democrat actually pay attention to the working man that they so desperately tell us they care about. You know, like Joe the Plumber.
Of course she does. Reform Congress. Relieve them of their jobs and their pensions.
The thing was MR. VARGAS WAS A LATINO, LIKE SOTOMAYOR, I was taken back by that. I was under the impression that this case was only about WHITE FIREFIGHTERS!!!!!!!! Then again, the drivebys are worse than the PROPOGANDA MACHINE OF THE ORIGINAL DEAR LEADER: KIM JONG IL, they are toad-lackeys for their favorites in power. For this drama unfolding, I remember the scene from Raiders of the Lost Ark: when they open the Ark of the Covenant and the Spirits coming flying out of the Covenant, well we all know what happens next./Just Asking - seoul62.........
In a nutshell, this case was decided on the basis of preventing outrage in certain protected groups.
Don’t do the right thing or there might be riots.
Kind of like how they are handling Zero’s eligibility and other issues.
Why do they go through the process already? Oh yeah, that’s right, so they appear as though they are following the Constitution so they can accept someone to the SC who clearly has disavowed her oath to the Constitution. What a zoo!! This bag was in before any hearing ever took place.
What the effing Hell is going on here?
Aren't the names Ricci and Vargas Latin names? But they were too "white" for so-called "judge"?
Is there anyone left in the beltway who has any brains, wisdom, or balls, or some combination thereof?
20090701085218.jpg)
Excuse me, but I believe polar bears currently come before Whites and Christians. (Thanks to PETA.)
FANTASTIC cartoon.
Repost:
________________________________________
..she is likely to say that her judicial record shows no hint of bias or activism and no evidence of unfairness or tilting the scales in favor of minority groups...........
That’s a laugh. She could not be more biased when it comes to judging her own. Read on.
By Ann Coulter
HUMAN EVENTS-—Vol. 53 Issue 39, p 11,
17 OCTOBER 1997
PROBABLE CAUSE FOR REJECTING JUDGE SOTOMAYOR (Sotomayor was then on the Clinton’s fast track to the Supreme Court)
SOTOMAYOR’S ACTUAL WORDS FROM THE BENCH, SENTENCING ADMITTED DRUG DEALER Louis Gomez (a noncitizen), who pleaded guilty to dealing cocaine:
“[I]t is in some respects a great tragedy for our country that instead of permitting you to serve a lesser sentence and rejoin your family at an earlier time I am required by law to give you the statutory minimum. ...
[W]e all understand that you were in part a victim of the economic necessities of our society, unfortunately there are laws that I must impose.
“Louis Gomez, yours is the tragedy of our laws and the greatest one that I know. ... the one our congressmen never thought about and don’t think about. ...
“It is no comfort to you for me to say that I am deeply, personally sorry about the sentence that I must impose, because the law requires me to do so. The only statement I can make is this is one more example of an abomination being committed before our sight. You do not deserve this, sir.”
Nelson Castellanos was arrested in NYC outside his Harlem apartment, charged with conspiracy to distribute cocaine. He was holding his keys and a white shopping bag containing about $10,000, mostly in $1 and $20 bills.
That evening, pursuant to a warrant, DEA personnel searched his apartment and found over 1,200 grams of cocaine, six live rounds of ammunition, a .44 caliber revolver and incriminating notebooks.
All this evidence was thrown out by District Court Judge Sonia Sotomayor on the grounds that the DEA agents had not provided the magistrate with probable cause to search Castellanos’s apartment.
1 posted on Saturday, July 11, 2009 6:36:47 PM by Liz
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