Republicans Respond to Ricci Decision

by Connie Hair
06/30/2009

The United States Supreme Court on Monday overturned the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals decision in the Ricci v. DeStefano case raising further concerns over Judge Sonya Sotomayor’s Supreme Court nomination. Many have raised serious concerns over the way she handled the case, including fellow 2nd Circuit Court Judge Jose Cabranes, a Clinton appointee and the Obama Justice Department which filed a brief arguing that Sotomayor’s panel had incorrectly dismissed the case.

In the Ricci case, Sotomayor held that a group of white firefighters had not been subjected to discrimination when they were not promoted even though they had the higher qualifying test scores on their requisite promotion exams.

In the 5-4 Supreme Court decision, the dissenting justices also found that Sotomayor had applied the wrong standard.

Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell issued a statement about the ruling on Monday.

“The Supreme Court today recognized that Judge Sotomayor's panel wrongly deprived the New Haven firefighters of equal justice under the law,â€