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William Kristol: Veni, Vidi . . . Ricci! ( Supreme Court decision & Sotomayor )
The Weekly Standard ^ | 06/08/2009, Volume 014, Issue 36 | William Kristol

Posted on 05/31/2009 9:11:35 AM PDT by kellynla

"First Latina Picked for Supreme Court; GOP Faces Delicate Task in Opposition," blared the four-column headline on the front page of the May 27 Washington Post. Leave aside the Post's odd failure to put in the headline the name of the person nominated--itself a nice example of the de-individualizing effect of identity politics. Consider instead the even odder decision to highlight neither the nominee's potential influence on the Court, nor the president who picked her, but the "delicate task" faced by an opposition party powerless to block her.

It was a theme the White House and much of the media (but I repeat myself!) would seek to develop over the next few days: The nomination of Sonia Sotomayor has created a very tricky situation for conservatives, who had best tread softly as they mobilize (if they even dare mobilize), and for Republicans, who had best whisper gently when they raise questions (if they even dare raise questions).

So Obama spokesman Robert Gibbs declared, "I think it is probably important for anybody involved in this debate to be exceedingly careful with the way in which they've decided to describe different aspects of this impending confirmation." Not just careful, but "exceedingly careful"! Senator Chuck Schumer warned that Republicans "oppose her at their peril." These are pretty heavy-handed attempts at intimidation. One wonders whether a wise Latina woman, with the richness of her experience, might have found a better way to make that point than a hapless white male like Gibbs or Schumer.

However that may be, the White House/media bluster won't work. Most conservatives and Republicans aren't going to be intimidated from raising legitimate questions about Sotomayor's jurisprudence. Especially when such questions have already been raised by nonconservatives as well as conservatives, and about her conduct in an ongoing, important legal case. That case is Ricci v. DeStefano, where Judge Sotomayor sought--by hook and by crook--to uphold a hiring decision that the respected nonideological legal commentator, Stuart Taylor, writing last December, called a "simple injustice," one that many Americans "would see as a raw racial quota."

Here is Taylor's summary of the case:

Frank Ricci, a firefighter in New Haven, Conn., worked hard, played by the rules, and earned a promotion to fire lieutenant. But the city denied him the promotion because he is not black. Ricci sued, along with 16 other whites and one Hispanic firefighter. .  .  . Ricci studied for eight to 13 hours a day to prepare for the combined written and oral exam in 2003 that he hoped would win him a promotion. .  .  . And he got one of the highest scores. But Ricci and other would-be lieutenants and captains with high scores did not get the promotions they expected. The reason was that--because not enough black firefighters had done well enough to be eligible--New Haven decided to discard the test results and make no promotions at all. .  .  . Racial politics clearly did figure in the city's denial of promotions to the white and Hispanic firefighters. .  .  . [T]he Rev. Boise Kimber .  .  . disrupted meetings of the city's civil service board and warned its members of a "political ramification" if they certified the exam results.

Ricci and other test-takers sued. A district judge dismissed the case. A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit affirmed the dismissal, in a process Taylor calls "so peculiar as to fan suspicions that some or all of the judges were embarrassed by the ugliness of the actions that they were blessing and were trying to sweep the case quietly under the rug." One of those three judges was Sonia Sotomayor. The Supreme Court took the appeal, heard oral arguments in April, and should hand down its judgment before its term ends at the beginning of July.

So we will have an unusual moment in the Sotomayor confirmation process--one that will stand out from the customary small-bore senatorial back-and-forth during judicial confirmations. We'll have a high-profile Supreme Court ruling highlighting a very questionable judicial decision by the president's nominee. Most Court observers expect the judgment in which Sotomayor joined to be reversed. But even if it isn't, there will be a closely observed decision by a probably closely divided Supreme Court that will bring home the importance of the Sotomayor nomination for jurisprudence in this area. The public will have occasion to see how a nominee, herself picked for identity-politics reasons, was unempathetic, one might say, and unjust to the victims of identity politics, the firefighters of New Haven who were denied promotions.

Sotomayor will probably be confirmed. But nothing is certain. And a Ricci-focused debate over her confirmation will serve to remind Americans of the unseemliness and injustice of the Constitution-corrupting, identity-politics-driven agenda so dear to the hearts of the modern Democratic party, the Obama administration, and Sonia Sotomayor.


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Editorial; Extended News; Government
KEYWORDS: firefighters; kristol; lawsuits; racism; ricci; sotomayor; supremecourt

1 posted on 05/31/2009 9:11:36 AM PDT by kellynla
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And a card-carrying-member of LA RAZA!

Profile
Sonia Sotomayor

“She is a member of the American Bar Association, the New York Women’s Bar Association, the Puerto Rican Bar Association, the Hispanic National Bar Association, the Association of Judges of Hispanic Heritage, and the National Council of La Raza.”

American Bar Association
http://www.abanet.org/publiced/hispanic_s.html


2 posted on 05/31/2009 9:12:32 AM PDT by kellynla (Freedom of speech makes it easier to spot the idiots! Semper Fi!)
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To: kellynla

La Raza says it all.


3 posted on 05/31/2009 9:14:19 AM PDT by freekitty (Give me back my conservative vote.)
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To: kellynla
Leave aside the Post's odd failure to put in the headline the name of the person nominated--itself a nice example of the de-individualizing effect of identity politics

Very perceptive little point here.

4 posted on 05/31/2009 9:21:22 AM PDT by Yardstick
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To: kellynla

People like Kristol, wuss-ass soft, non-confrontational ‘republican’ phonies are a primary reason that a zero like Sotomayor could ever even be considered for a Supreme Court post. Decades of pussing out by spokesmen for the right have allowed the cancer to spread. So screw you, Kristol, you fairy.


5 posted on 05/31/2009 9:27:52 AM PDT by raptor29
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To: kellynla
Ricci studied for eight to 13 hours a day to prepare for the combined written and oral exam in 2003

Coming next to the USA: racial "targets" for Certified Public Accountants.

If it weren't for the influx of women CPA's over the past 20 years, there certainly would be an outcry. There are very few racial minorities in the accounting profession.

Had I been in college when the requirement to be a CPA increased to 150 semester hours and a work requirement, I might have changed my major, too.

6 posted on 05/31/2009 9:28:11 AM PDT by Night Hides Not (If Dick Cheney = Darth Vader, then Joe Biden = Dark Helmet)
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To: raptor29

He makes some excellent points and you can’t get past your rage to acknowledge them ?


7 posted on 05/31/2009 9:35:19 AM PDT by gusopol3
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To: raptor29
So screw you, Kristol, you fairy.

Great intelligent remark there....NOT!!!!!

8 posted on 05/31/2009 9:39:46 AM PDT by Oldsailor
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To: raptor29
So screw you, Kristol, you fairy.

Are you sure that you are not mixing Bill Kristol up with someone else? I watch Kristol on Fox all the time and he is a rock solid conservative and not afraid to go after Obama or Sotamayor. If you disagree give us some examples where he strayed from what looks to me to be a pretty pure conservative viewpoint.

9 posted on 05/31/2009 9:39:53 AM PDT by InterceptPoint
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To: InterceptPoint; All

The basis of approach the GOP senators on the Sotomajor hearing committee should take is contained in this conservative memorandum signed by 36 GOP and 2 Dem House members..
Placing the issue as a series of rehtorical constitutional questions on govermental divisions as expressed in the constitution, and the use of the executive powers in the seizing significant funds and apply them to a project not authorized by congress.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2260730/posts
http://www.theusmat.com/


10 posted on 05/31/2009 10:18:23 AM PDT by mosesdapoet (We don't need no stinkin video clips unrelated to the subject)
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To: raptor29
People like Kristol, wuss-ass soft, non-confrontational ‘republican’ phonies are a primary reason that a zero like Sotomayor could ever even be considered for a Supreme Court post. Decades of pussing out by spokesmen for the right have allowed the cancer to spread. So screw you, Kristol, you fairy.

ROFLOL!!!

Next time get it all off your chest!!

Kristol and his illegal loving friend Fred Barnes are such worms.

11 posted on 05/31/2009 10:45:39 AM PDT by org.whodat
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To: raptor29

“People like Kristol, wuss-ass soft, non-confrontational ‘republican’ phonies are a primary reason that a zero like Sotomayor could ever even be considered for a Supreme Court post. Decades of pussing out by spokesmen for the right have allowed the cancer to spread. So screw you, Kristol, you fairy.”

BTTT!


12 posted on 05/31/2009 11:05:04 AM PDT by LibertarianInExile (When Republicans don't vote conservative, conservatives don't vote Republican.)
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To: gusopol3

“He make some excellent points and you can’t get past your rage to acknowledge them?”

Actually, no. I give Kristol no credit whatsoever for making a conservative argument today, well after the time has passed when it would have mattered. This phony, by his unwillingness to take the fire from the left, has served our side very poorly over the years. He is a puss, he walks on eggshells for fear of leftist criticism, and the results are what they are, a huge leftward lurch by America and a bunch of angry conservatives adding him to the growing list of those who sold us out with their lack of fortitude.


13 posted on 05/31/2009 11:41:19 AM PDT by raptor29
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To: raptor29

We differ. Salutations.


14 posted on 05/31/2009 11:57:05 AM PDT by gusopol3
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To: kellynla

The Ricci case should make it a checkmate mental decision for most Americans. Simply put, most Americans don’t like the idea of someone being denied a promotion because of their “race.” This is an arch-type case of reverse discrimination or what I call affirmative discrimination. Conservatives should be hammering the libs on this particular issue.


15 posted on 05/31/2009 1:34:41 PM PDT by driftless2 (four)
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To: raptor29
Kristol may be a limp-wristed leftist on a lot of issues, and I am certainly no fan of him or any of his "neo-conservative" cronies.

But it's worth noting that while Kristol may have no idea what the Second Amendment means, and what the principled basis for small government is . . . for some reason, his limp-wristed brand of conservatism has long been dead-set against racial/ethnic/gender preferences under the law.

16 posted on 05/31/2009 2:33:59 PM PDT by Alberta's Child (I'm out on the outskirts of nowhere . . . with ghosts on my trail, chasing me there.)
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To: Alberta's Child

So, that makes Kristol on board with what, 5% of the conservative position? He’s a stiff, a wuss, and no help to our side whatsoever.


17 posted on 05/31/2009 2:44:24 PM PDT by raptor29
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To: org.whodat; raptor29; LibertarianInExile
People like Kristol, wuss-ass soft, non-confrontational ‘republican’ phonies are a primary reason that a zero like Sotomayor could ever even be considered for a Supreme Court post. Decades of pussing out by spokesmen for the right have allowed the cancer to spread. So screw you, Kristol, you fairy.

B-e-a-u-t-i-f-u-l---music to my ears. Watta POS Kristol, Brooks and the rest of the stinking pukeneos are hoping we forget their nefarious subrosa activities--- squatting in the Repub party to conduct religious cleansing, and kicking conservatives to the curb.The pukeneos never saw an immigrant they didn't like---whether eastern European, the Soviet bloc, or Third World south of the border.

====================================

And now------The Winner of the 2008 Best Election Night Performance Award in the category of:
"Neos Know Nothing About this Republican Disaster."


Billy Kristol (McC campaign mastermind)

"Thank you very much. But I could not have done it without the help of all the
punkeos--David Frum, Michael Gerson, David Brooks, Richard Perle.....and
my Dearest Daddy."

"Sniffle---my Dearest Daddy (who was Giuliani's foreign policy advisor) said,
"The historical task and political purpose of neoconservatism is.....to convert the
Republican Party and American conservatism in general, against their
respective wills,
into a new kind of conservative politics suitable to
governing a modern democracy."

"Sob."

"I especially want to thank punkneo Douglas Feith for faking documents on his
home computer so we punkneos could dupe the president."

"Without Doug we would not have been able to transfer trillions of US dollars
into the Mideast, into the pockets of war profiteers, which enabled Richard Perle
to startup an oil business in Iraq with his cut."

Kristol smirked: "Making Iraq safe for Perle's oil business with US tax dollars was truly a noble punkneo effort."

==============================================

COMMENTS The 2008 political entrail readings showed the crucial conservative base stayed home. Too bad the pukes "forget" to tell McC that would be one outcome of the punkneo-RINO bi-partisanship. Be aware that many senior neocons are rank opportunists who squatted in the Repub Party for their selfish stealth purposes-----they are actually former Trotskyites that flew the coop when Stalin executed their hero.

AS FREEPER TADSLOS COGENTLY POSTED: "People forget that candy-ass Kristol, and his crony, metro-sexual Brooks are the original makeover artists for McCain post-2000. They are McC's original groomers and media switch operators.....obsessed with religious cleansing of the party. Kristol at his most smirkiest---urging McCain to fire his 2008 staff, to start all over at the 11th hour, as McC's numbers tanked. Shows how how ill-conceived, advised, equipped and poorly managed McC's campaign was. But then, what else to expect from a Republican candidate made up of neopunks Kristol and Brooks."

Watching Kristol smirking and squirming in his Fox seat election night as McC lost was a consolation prize to this abortion of a losing 2008 election cycle.

The pukeneos get $paid handsomely to $squat in the Repub Party......pocketing $big bonuses to religiously cleanse the party of so/cons the pukes despise.

PUNKNEOS IMPROVE OBAMA'S SEX LIFE Obaman's sex life is about to improve greatly---as Brooks, Kristol, Frum and the pukeneos line up for a turn under Obama's desk. I hear Rahm is installing a Take-A- Number dispenser to control the neopunks traffic.

Puke Billy Kristol blows whichever way the Beltway Winds are blowing. Kristol went from Moynihan's staff to Quayle's, from The Weekly Standard to the NYT, from Bush to Giuliani to McCain.

And the crumb-bum is still as secretive as ever....spewing blue-blood beltway Republicanism, and smirkingly kicking conservatives to the curb.

18 posted on 05/31/2009 3:29:06 PM PDT by Liz (When people fear govt, we have tyranny; when govt fears the people, we have freedom.)
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To: raptor29

You won’t get an argument from me on that. Anyone who knows me here on FR will tell you that I’ve never had anything good to say about the guy!


19 posted on 05/31/2009 5:23:55 PM PDT by Alberta's Child (I'm out on the outskirts of nowhere . . . with ghosts on my trail, chasing me there.)
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