Posted on 06/15/2009 10:46:23 AM PDT by reaganaut1
When Sonia Sotomayor goes before the Senate next month for her Supreme Court confirmation hearing, the questioning is likely to focus on her work as a civil rights advocate in the 1980s as much as on her nearly two decades on the federal bench.
That is because she was a board member of a Puerto Rican advocacy group that sued to overturn New York City's civil service exams and to win more police and firefighter jobs for Latinos.
Sotomayor embraced affirmative action and later described herself as leading an "attack" on testing and promotional exams that favored whites and limited the opportunities for minorities.
Twenty-five years later, as a high court nominee, she is being criticized for a ruling that threw out a suit by white firefighters in New Haven, Conn., who had earned top scores on a department exam but were passed over for promotion.
As a result, her hearings promise to revive a decades-old debate about the role of race and ethnicity in hiring decisions, and the use of quotas to achieve diversity.
It is a thread that has run through much of Sotomayor's life -- beginning with her admission to Princeton University and Yale Law School, where she excelled.
"I am a product of affirmative action," Sotomayor said in a 1994 interview. "I am the perfect affirmative action baby."
Targeting exams
As a lawyer in the 1980s, before being appointed to a federal judgeship, Sotomayor sat on the board of the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund, a New York-based group modeled after a similar unit established by the NAACP.
The fund sought to "use the law to create opportunities for Latinos," said Cesar Perales, co-founder and president of the group, now called LatinoJustice PRLDEF. "We think the law can ensure a level playing field."
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
Radical. Racist. Liberal activist.
The perfect Obama choice for the SCOTUS....God help us.
How much more affirmative can it be and how much more action is needed, before you cast American taxpayers in the role of abject serfs?
Enough with this s*&%, already!!!!
Affirmative Action; the worst illegal Punishment of a single race in American history by Government Racism.
If anyone has links to Miller let him know how far offbase he is on this.
Affirmative Action = Incompetency Promoted
Is it time yet for white people to get their own affirmative action?
Aren’t they low on the pole now?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.