Firefighter Says Sotomayor Failed Him

By Kathleen Hunter | July 16, 2009 2:40 PM | | Comments (0)

Frank Ricci, a New Haven, Conn., firefighter who lost a reverse discrimination claim, testified this afternoon that Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor's participation in the case failed to protect his civil rights.

At issue is the ruling of a three-judge panel of the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals that included Sotomayor. The panel rejected the firefighters' claim that the city of New Haven illegally threw out the results of a promotion exam on which minority candidates received disproportionately low scores.

Ricci's testimony against Sotomayor's nomination has been anticipated by Republican opponents. Ricci, who overcame dyslexia and scored high on the exam, said the issue was broader than just his situation because "firefighters across the country have had to resort to the federal courts to vindicate their civil rights."

"Despite the important civil rights and constitutional claims we raised, the court of appeals panel disposed of our case in an unsigned, unpublished summary order that consisted of a single paragraph that made mention of my dyslexia and thus led many to think this case was about me and a disability," Ricci said.

Republicans have seized on the 2nd Circuit's ruling in Ricci v. DeStefano as a central concern about Sotomayor's nomination. Ricci's testimony gave them more to work with as he suggested that her personal views might have swayed her decision.

"Americans have the right to go into our federal courts and have their cases judged based on the Constitution and our laws, not on politics and personal feelings," he said.

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