Honestly, do you think Americans know anything about how their legal system works? And do you think Congress knows how it works? Well Congress might but the talking points stand. Democrats love throwing people like her under the bus. Gives em macho cred.

"If there is any group for which the "conservative justices" have more empathy than the downtrodden white male, it is employers."

Ha ha ha ha! Very well-put.

But nowhere near enough to keep her off the bench.

I'm sick to my stomach with conservative opposition to what is basically a fairly CONSERVATIVE nominee Obama has given them. Such knee-jerk reactionaries deserve no place at the table, but Obama, like most Democrats and liberals, is so 'inclusive' that he can't help but make pathetic attempts to please them.

Feh.

First this: "In 2003, the city of New Haven administered promotional tests for 12 vacant captain and lieutenant positions in our fire department. The tests produced an outcome wherein only one out of 56 minority candidates and none of the African American candidates would have been eligible for promotion. In reviewing the test results, the New Haven Civil Service Commission did the right thing by respecting the law and not certifying this exam".

And now Destefano's rejoinder in total: http://www.courant.com/news/opinion/hc-destefano-firefighters-newha.artjun21,0,1368695.story

The real question is-- why did the civil service commission decertify the exam? Right wing critics decry the motivation to be to prevent lawsuits. But Sotomayors' decision was rooted in established law. Were she to rule another way, it would give critics fodder to label her an "activist judge".

Crikies, she's almost a Constructionist! "Miss Precedent Thang"!

Worse than being giddy, foolish and racist, in the pubic eye, she has been selected by Obama and that should be enough to put off ANY decent persons.

Why would any decent person want to be selected by Obama?

Oh yeah, the money, benefits and pension are sweet.

There are far worse people holding the same jobs.

But this TAINT is different,

As I read the opinion, the USSC adopted a "strong basis evidence" standard for resolving conflicts between disparate treatment and disparate impact questions. The Court found that the City could not show a strong basis in evidence that either prong of a disparate impact claim existed (1) the exams were job-related or 2) the City failed to show equally valid, less-discrimnatory exams existed that the City refused to adopt). So, the Court hands the City a shield and says that the City may rely upon its opinion to defeat a disparate impact claim on the part of the non-white firefighters. Game, set and match.

"Oh yeah, the money, benefits and pension are sweet."

Supreme Court justices make $208k/year. Any one of them could easily make 5x that (or more, Roberts was probably making 15x that) in private practice. Nobody takes the Supreme Court job for the money - it's a major personal financial sacrifice.

So you'd rather have someone in charge who couldn't be bothered to look up protocols and MSDSs?

We can only be thankful that a Supreme Court majority is out there, protecting this country against the evils of affirmative action.

The idea that a system of just and equitable behavior by which populations of students, workers, managers, and leaders in America come to have the same demographic makeup as the country at large is a horrifying concept. Race-mixing has already ruined so much in America — business, academia, science and technology, law enforcement, the presidency, sports, entertainment, even individual families. Institutions like fire departments and ice hockey must be protected.

We need to stop Maria (or whatever) Sotomayor in order to send a message to Obama — his next two picks had better be from the respectable sector of this country's population which believes that considerations of race in employment are always bad ("always" meaning "whenever they protect white people from competition in the labor force").

Look at that avuncular Clarence Thomas. He doesn't go around being all "black" on the Supreme Court. Why should we have someone going around being all "Latina?"

Obama's Supreme Court pick, like those firefighters' test, should be conducted according to whatever purely merit-based test leads to the correct outcome. If you get my drift.

Yes, it's true that this decision does not place Sotomayor outside the judicial mainstream, given that it's 5-4. No doubt there were some on the right who argued that it did (though the mere fact that Sotomayor's position on Ricci had already also been either joined, or not openly contradicted, by other judges should have made that evident). They would indeed be proven wrong by the 5-4 vote.

But I think the breakdown of the vote also contradicts a claim often made by Sotomayor's supporters: that is was done strictly on the basis of law -- as that phrase is usually understood.

That 5-4 breakdown goes exactly along the standard Conservative/Liberal line in the Supreme Court. That strongly suggests that ideology played a major role in how the decision got made. It would seem to be pretty fair to say that those Justices who voted against Ricci's side were the strong supporters of Affirmative Action on the Court, and those on the other side were those who were not.

The open question remains as to just how far to the left on the issue of Affirmative Action and related issues Sotomayor really lies.

The test the city had proposed replacing the one given with, to ameliorate the disparate impact, was heavily weighted towards scenarios and panel questioning. I don't have any experience as a firefighter, but as an EMT, I do favor those two types of exams, plus monitoring on the job, which was also proposed, as means of promotion. The organization I volunteer for uses all three to do its promotions and to interview new members. Written tests are more appropriate to the licensing system, not the promotion or hiring system, which should involve people thinking and assembling facts and improvising under stress. Ricci opposed them because he couldn't memorize his way through a scenario or panel exam where he'd have to actually look up protocols and read MSDSs. In fact, the original test, that Ricci favored, had HAZMAT excluded, so no MSDS work at all. I'd feel really confident with a fire department that shouldn't be called in the event of a HAZMAT MCI, wouldn't you?