From: The Hotline On Call

The SCOTUS ruled today in favor of the white New Haven firefighters who were denied promotions because of their race, overturning a lower court decision made by Pres. Obama’s SCOTUS appointee Sonia Sotomayor and handing Republicans a potentially charged issue in advance of her confirmation hearings.

The GOP has been digging for a matter around which members could rally against Sotomayor, and while the Ricci case is hardly a slam dunk, it might have legs for two reasons:

1. It shows that the majority of Sotomayor’s would-be colleagues disagreed with her verdict; and,
2. The matter, freighted with racial implications, could be pitched by the GOP to harken back to the other item still hovering over Sotomayor’s thus far smooth rollout — her remarks about the ability of a “wise” Latina woman to make a “better” decision than a white man.

The Supreme Court’s 5-4 ruling “could alter employment practices nationwide and make it harder to prove discrimination when there is no evidence it was intentional,” according to the New York Times.
The RNC has already released a statement suggesting that the nation’s highest court has only upheld two of seven of Sotomayor’s decisions to reach the SCOTUS on appeal.

Certainly the Democrats have the numbers still to push through the appointment — especially if Al Franken (D) is certified and seated as MN’s second U.S. senator before the hearings commence. But the right was looking desperately for substantive fodder to use to oppose the woman who would be the first Hispanic on the court. And this, at least, provides entry to a line of questioning about affirmative action and race that the GOP wouldn’t have had otherwise.

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