Firefighter says Sotomayor’s ruling divides people
WASHINGTON - Frank Ricci, the white firefighter who recently won his reverse discrimination case at the Supreme Court, said Thursday that an unfavorable ruling by Sonia Sotomayor and other judges “divides people who don’t wish to be divided along racial lines.” Ricci and his firefighting colleague from New Haven, Conn., Lt. Ben Vargas, denounced the appeals court ruling by Sotomayor and two other judges on the federal appeals court in New York. But in testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee, neither man voiced opposition to Sotomayor’s confirmation as a Supreme Court justice.
Vargas, in fact, identified himself as Hispanic and congratulated the 55-year-old judge who would be the high court’s first Hispanic.
Ricci, Vargas and other firefighters sued New Haven after the city threw out the results of a promotion exam for lieutenants and captains after too few minorities did well.
A trial judge dismissed the lawsuit, a decision upheld by Sotomayor’s appellate panel in a one-paragraph opinion that has been