Sotomayor Won't Be Affected By Supreme Court Reversal on Ricci v. DeStefano

As widely expected, the U.S. Supreme Court today overturned a decision made by the Second Circuit Court of Appeals in Ricci v. DeStefano with regards to white firefighters who said they had been discriminated against by the City of New Haven, Connecticut concerning promotions. The Second Circuit ruling, which Sonia Sotomayor supported, had denied the firefighters' claim of discrimination. The SC's decision can be read here. The decision made by the Second Circuit last year can be read here. You can judge for yourself.

Do I think this will negatively affect Sotomayor's chances of being confirmed by the Senate? Absolutely not. If having cases overturned by a higher court were grounds for a judge being disqualified from sitting on the Supreme Court then the President of the United States would have no one to fill any vacancies.

Sotomayor should be grilled by the Senate on her conduct during the hearing and reasoning for going along with the majority opinion in Ricci. But I don't think this decision alone is sufficient grounds to vote against her confirmation unless she says something in the hearing that is completely unbecoming of a judge.