A loaded court decision

As anyone with an ounce of political sense can tell you, the U.S. Supreme Court's decision Monday in a case involving white firefighters in New Haven, Conn., will affect more than just promotions to the offices of lieutenant and captain. They will be used as lighter fluid on the already hot coals of Sonia Sotomayor's nomination to the high court.

That's why the Obama administration quickly followed the 5-4 ruling with an odd, almost Orwellian statement that said the ruling actually works in Sotomayor's favor. It shows she is not an activist judge, presidential spokesman Robert Gibbs said. This is because the 2nd Circuit Court decision, written by Sotomayor and two other justices, followed precedent set in that circuit. Ergo, Sotomayor is not an activist judge, he said.

Or perhaps she simply believes in race-based quotas. The truth is, had Sotomayor ruled differently, that would have been truly remarkable, because it would have run counter to her own judicial philosophy.

In reality, this court decision isn't likely to affect Sotomayor's confirmation process much, other than to give the few Republicans in the Senate some strong talking points. But it does illustrate the basic philosophical differences between liberal and conservative justices, especially in regard to racial preferences.

When New Haven needed to promote firefighters, it hired a firm to design a test that would identify the most qualified applicants. A total of 56 firefighters passed the test. That included 22 blacks and 18 Hispanics. But the highest scores went to 17 whites and two Hispanics. One of the men who scored the highest, Frank Ricci, worked hard to overcome his dyslexia, converting text to tape to help him study, according to McClatchy Newspapers.

But the city withdrew the exam for fear it would be sued under the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The city (and the courts) never found any flaw in the exam. It simply worried about the racial makeup of those who passed it.

The Supreme Court, by a 5-4 decision, said the fear of a lawsuit alone was not enough justification to discriminate against those who had passed the test. The liberal response came in a dissent by Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who said the white firefighters "had no vested right to promotion."

Well, of course they didn't. Neither did the test-takers of other races. The city's interest should be in promoting the firefighters best qualified to do the job. That is the interest of city residents, as well, who may have to rely on those lieutenants and captains to protect their property. If the city's test didn't accomplish that, or if it was skewed in some way to eliminate people of a certain race, that also would be to the detriment of the city and its residents.

New Haven never showed the tests were flawed. Common sense should indicate that, although it is unfortunate more minorities didn't score high, the results ought to stand. Sotomayor, however, disagreed.