From GOPUSA.com:

By Bobby Eberle
June 30, 2009

The United States Supreme Court has spoken, and because of Monday’s ruling, the nation can move one step closer to truly being a colorblind society. In the process, the majority of Supreme Court justices slapped down the ruling of Obama’s Supreme Court nominee: Judge Sonya Sotomayor.

In a case where white firefighters were denied promotions simply because they are white, Sotomayor ruled that it was fine for the city of New Haven, CT to throw out test results on a promotional exam because no minorities placed high enough to receive a promotion. The Supreme Court said, “Wrong!” I wonder how a conservative nominee would be judged by Democrats if the Supreme Court overturned a recent ruling by the nominee. Do you think they’d dismiss it as they are doing for Sotomayor?

As reported in an Associated Press news story, “The Supreme Court declared Monday that white firefighters in Connecticut were unfairly denied promotion because of their race, ruling against minorities in a major reverse discrimination case that could affect bosses and workers nationwide. The justices threw out a decision that high court nominee Sonia Sotomayor had endorsed as an appeals court judge.”

The case involves the city of New Haven, CT and its fire department. A number of firefighters took the promotional exam in order to be considered for positions of lieutenant and captain. 118 people took the test, and 56 passed. The top 19 firefighters on the exam were eligible for promotion to 15 open spots. The city said that based on those test results, “no minorities would have been eligible for lieutenant, and two Hispanics would have been eligible for captain.” So, what is a city driven by affirmative action supposed to do? That’s right… throw out the test results!

Firefighter Matthew Marcarelli and others filed a lawsuit against the city. Marcarelli actually finished #1 on the test, but was not granted a promotion.

The case found its way to Sotomayor’s court where, as the Associated Press reports, “Sotomayor and two other judges issued an unusually brief decision that went against white firefighters.”

On Monday, the Supreme Court ruled against Sotomayor and in favor of the firefighters.

In its last session until September, the court’s conservative majority prevailed in a 5-4 ruling that faulted New Haven and the courts that had upheld the city’s discarding of results of an exam in which no African-Americans scored high enough to be promoted to lieutenant or captain.

The city said it acted to avoid a lawsuit from minorities, but Justice Anthony Kennedy said in his majority opinion that New Haven’s action amounted to discrimination based on race against the white firefighters who were likely to be promoted.

“No individual should face workplace discrimination based on race,” Kennedy said.

That pretty much sums up how America should be. Of course, on the other side, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said the white firefighters “understandably attract the court’s empathy. But they had no vested right to promotion and no person has received a promotion in preference to them.” So, everything is OK because no one else got promoted? What kind of sense does that make? They took an exam for a promotion; placed highly on the exam; and the results were thrown out because they were not minorities. And she thinks that is OK? Crazy.

Will this ruling have any effect on the confirmation of Sotomayor? Not in the eyes of the media and the Democrats.

However, conservatives are hoping it will make a difference.

“This case will only raise more questions in the minds of the American people concerning Judge Sotomayor’s commitment to treat each individual fairly and not as a member of a group,” said Sen. Jeff Sessions of Alabama, the senior Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee.

“It’s just one more data point that she thinks it’s OK to make decisions as a judge based on your own personal preferences, gender, race, background, political agenda — instead of being a servant of the law,” said Wendy Long of the Judicial Confirmation Network.

Tom Fitton of the conservative group Judicial Watch said the case “puts senators in a corner, where they’re going to have to say whether they will vote for someone who thought it was appropriate to discriminate based on race simply to avoid a lawsuit.”

Sotomayor should not be confirmed. Yes, her confirmation will not change the balance of the court, but that should not be a reason for senators to toe the line. Any nominee who thinks it’s fine to discriminate is not worthy of the highest court in the land. If we truly want a colorblind society, then we start by sending a message that all discrimination is wrong… even if it is against a white male.