Sonia Sotomayor

  • Slate has an excellent five-part article on the backstory behind the Ricci v. DeStafano case that the Supreme Court is expected to rule on this Monday. This is the one about the city of New Haven throwing out a firefighter exam because it would've ended up denying promotion to every African-American that took it, likely a Title VII violation -- and the one that Sonia Sotomayor was criticized for ruling on the side of the city with no explanation. A fascinating article, and one that makes it clear (at least to me) that while the situation was hairy for the plaintiffs, it was a fairly clear-cut case for a circuit court. (Of course, the Supreme Court is a different matter, and has more free reign in overturning precedent.) (16) #
    6/25/2009
  • Tom Goldstein over at SCOTUS Blog predicted nearly two years ago that Sonia Sotomayor would be nominated to replace Justice David Souter on the Supreme Court. The same blog also has five or so lengthy posts analyzing the decisions and written opinions of Sotomayor -- here is the first one, the others can be found here. (1) #
    5/26/2009