Opinion: Sotomayor hearings: Nominee says panel did the right thing in New Haven case

This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.

Sen. Patrick Leahy swung from the Tarzan murders to the New Haven, Conn., firefighters case, the decision that has drawn so much attention to Judge Sonia Sotomayor’s record as an appellate court judge on the 2nd Circuit. That decision, which allowed the city of New Haven to throw out the results of a promotion test for firefighters because minorities fared poorly on it, was just reversed by the Supreme Court in a 5-4 decision.

Leahy laid out the dilemma that faces Sotomayor as a jurist: She could have followed precedent and upheld the lower court’s ruling in Ricci vs. New Haven, or she could have voted to overturn that case, and “some would be attacking you as being an activist. Damned if you and damned if you don’t.”

Sotomayor said she was obligated to follow precedent: “This was not a quota test or an affirmative action case.”

The question before the appellate court panel, she said, was whether the city acted appropriately based on its understanding of what the law required it to do.

Given the precedent, she said, “the panel concluded that the city’s decision in that particular situation was lawful under established law.”

As to the Supreme Court subsequently reversing that decision, said Sotomayor, the high court “applied a new standard. It announced it was applying a standard from a different theory of law and explained how to look at this question in the future.”

Leahy then asked her what she meant when she used the phrase “wise Latina,” providing the most electric moment of the morning (so far).

-- Robin Abcarian

Don’t miss any new Ticket item. Click here for free Twitter alerts. Or follow us @latimestot