Posted on 06/29/2009 7:06:51 AM PDT by Abathar
COURT OVERTURNS SOTOMAYOR; SIDES WITH WHITE FIREFIGHTERS
Awesome.
Although happy with the decision, this is one case that really should have been a 9-0 count. 5-4 is much too close and it gives the liberals cause to rejoice that Sotomayor had 4 Justices agree with her.
5 - 4
Fortunately still 5-4 with the wise Latina replacing the mistake from New Hampshire. Kennedy, Alito, Roberts, Scalia, Thomas.
Thanks for the link. I read over it, with particular attention on the dissenting opinion.
Their argument can be summed up as follows: performance disparity should never fall along racial lines, and if it does, it is clear evidence of a racially discriminatory performance measure. Other fire departments with similar demographic environments have successfully developed objective performance standards which result in equitable performance profiles when measured along racial lines. Whichever tests result in low racial inequality are tests that are non-discriminatory.
In an attempt to illustrate how institutional racism can sneak into the performance analysis, they cite that access to study materials is not uniform across racial lines, because most minority firefighters are first generation firefighters and have no kin network over which study materials and assistance can be provided. They cite that, in conjunction with the reported multi-week backorder for study materials from the publisher, this “legacy advantage” afforded to white second+ generation firefighters is partly responsible for the disparity in racial performance.
On another front, the dissent cites that consultations for test material were provided by the existing command structure, which is mostly white, thus permitting a potential avenue for the injection of racial bias into the test questions. Absent any criticism against a single particular question potentially loaded with racial bias, the dissent instead outlines that a noted professional in firefighter performance analysis believes that the relative weight of test components should have been subject to external consultation; such consultation would have presumably resulting in a higher weighting for oral/physical test components which uniformly show higher relative performance by racial minorities compared to written test questions (and, as is fashionable in some education circles, the validity of written test questions as a performance measure for potential job performance is doubted - when the results are socially inconvenient).
Altogether a predictable dissent. They cannot find an individual who was wronged in any concrete way, but have no trouble identifying discrimination against a group. They cannot find a single element of the performance measure which is potentially racially loaded, but can toss the entire assessment because the results are inconvenient. This is your brain on the left-wing mental retardation endemic across college campuses since the 1960’s.
Kennedy has expressed his liking for scotus as it was before O'connor left. He was always very conservative until she left and was replaced by alito. After O'connor left, he decided that alito would replace kennedy, while he would replace o'connor as the swing vote.
By the way, souter voted not to overturn sotomayer so sotomayer replacing souter changes nothing.
Sotot is a racist bitch!
LOLing here ...
flipped to MS-O-NBC .. quite a sight.
New jerk on the block, Dylan Ratigan interviewing
Rather Dan, who’s certain that Sonia will
be confirmed... ‘she’ll sail through’ ...
Talk about the blind leading the feeble.
testing to see if I’m posting.
Megan was right on it .. and visibly animated.
I suspect there could be some repercussions over this. Hopefully tempers will remain in check.
Judge Kennedy did the right thing in this case. It is sad we still have a court where 4 justices would rule in favor or so blatant and injustice. If the majority had gone the other way it would have been another sign that this nation is going downhill.
This will make no difference to the liberals whatsoever. They have at least a 10 vote majority in the Senate...Even if they wanted to...the GOP could not filibuster.
Actually...she will only be replacing Empty Souter....notice how he voted on this....one liberal for another.
Souter=George H. W. Bush’s single worst appointment.
Hey, how are you feeling?
“Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg wrote the dissenting opinion, which was joined by John Paul Stevens, Stephen Breyer and retiring David Souter. “The white firefighters who scored high on New Haven’s promotional exams understandably attract this court’s sympathy,” she wrote.
“But they had no vested right to promotion. Nor have other persons received promotions in preference to them.”
Ginsburg went on to argue that it is through the “backdrop of entrenched inequality that the promotion process at issue in this litigation should be assessed.”
http://ninthjustice.nationaljournal.com/2009/06/supreme-court-reverses-sotomay.php
~~~
Asinine, twisted logic.
Wasn’t her ruling an upholding of an earlier court?
Not an embarrassment, an incentive to restructure the court. Scalia is the oldest of the constructionists, and thus more vulnerable to develop a heath condition which forces retirement. Kennedy could tire of being the Court’s swing vote and retire as well. Either case leaves the court as the third branch of the Obama coup.
I don’t know if this can derail the Quota Queen, but it is a blow for the concept of merit.
Kennedy was the swing vote. Kudos.
This thread is not updating. It is stuck, as well as- I think the rest of FR.
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