Ahead of Senate Hearings, Racism Charges Fly

5-4 decision reverses appeals panel that included Sotomayor

(AP) - The Supreme Court has ruled that white firefighters in New Haven, Conn., were unfairly denied promotions because of their race, reversing a decision that high court nominee Sonia Sotomayor endorsed as an appeals court judge. In a 5-4 ruling along ideological lines, the court said that New Haven was wrong to scrap a promotion exam because no African Americans and only two Hispanic firefighters scored high enough to make lieutenant or captain. More»

On and off the bench, they often work at cross-purposes

(NEWSER) - The lives of Sonia Sotomayor and Clarence Thomas have parallels—humble beginnings, fatherless childhoods, Yale Law, affirmative action—but their conclusions are contrary. “For the first time, the Supreme Court would include two minority judges, but ones who stand at opposite poles of thinking about race, identity, and opportunity,” Jodi Kantor and David Gonzalez write in the New York Times. More»

Poll numbers plummeted amid Sotomayor, Gates controversies

(NEWSER) - President Obama’s downward opinion-poll trajectory among whites seems to be linked to the “blackening” of his image, writes Joan Walsh in Salon. It accelerated during two racially charged moments this summer: Sonia Sotomayor’s nomination to the Supreme Court, marked with debate over her “wise Latina” comment, and the Henry Louis Gates controversy. At such times, Walsh argues, “there's no denying, he got blacker to a segment of the white population.” More»

(NEWSER) - Sonia Sotomayor’s now-infamous “wise Latina woman” statement wasn’t an isolated incident, CQ Politics reports. The phrase crops up multiple times in speeches delivered from 1994 to 2003 and released yesterday ahead of the Supreme Court nominee's Senate confirmation hearings. Some speeches contain the same line exactly; others simply refer to a “wise woman.” More»

Confirm her, but make sure the country sees what it voted for

(NEWSER) - The people voted for Democrats, and Sonia Sotomayor reflects the views of the winning party. For that, writes Charles Krauthammer in the Washington Post, she deserves confirmation. But Republicans should seize the moment to illustrate what liberalism leads to. They should call Frank Ricci, the firefighter Sotomayor denied promotion. “Let Ricci tell his story, and let the American people judge whether his promotion should have been denied because of his skin color,” writes Krauthammer. More»