Legal News

Firefighter Under Fire for Scheduled Testimony in Sotomayor Hearings

By Suzanne Sataline

Frank Ricci, the lead plaintiff in the controversial reverse discrimination case handed down by the Supreme Court last month, was scheduled to testify in the Sotomayor hearings. But now that in itself has become controversial.

As you may recall, Ricci was one of 17 white and Hispanic firefighters who filed suit when the city of New Haven, Conn., shut down a promotions process after realizing that no blacks had qualified. A three-judge panel that included Judge Sonia Sotomayor tersely rejected Ricci's arguments, but the U.S. Supreme Court overturned that decision last month.

Republicans on the Senate Judiciary, thinking that they might score political points over an embarrassing reversal, invited the firefighter to testify at Sotomayor's confirmation hearings.

But a liberal group, People for the American Way, are making hay with the knowledge that Ricci himself benefited from a federal law meant to help minorities, in his case, people with disabilities. Here’s the AP story.

The group noted that Ricci was hired by the fire department after he claimed the city was using his dyslexia, a learning disability, to discriminate against him. Said Marge Baker, the group’s vice president: “But you can’t have it both ways; these laws can’t be good when you use them to protect yourself and bad when they’re used to protect someone else.”

Pat Egan, president of the New Haven Fire Fighters Union, told the LB that Ricci had scored well on a test in the 1990s, but he mentioned he was dyslexic in the oral interview and when he didn't get selected, he sued. The city settled the case with Ricci and invited him to take the next exam, promising if he passed, he would be hired, Mr. Egan said.

“I don't think it's relevant to anything going on,'' Mr. Egan said.

Update: Karen Lee Torre, the attorney who represented the New Haven firefighters, though she didn't argue before the Supreme Court, told the LB that Ricci's earlier case, filed in 1995, involved racial discrimination, as well. During discovery, Ricci learned that he had been passed over by the city, which had used a racially-based quota system for hiring firefighters. The law firm that represented him gave notice of his intent to amend the action to allege race discrimination as well. “The people who are conducting this smear campaign against Ricci should be ashamed of themselves. They are attacking a guy who would risk his life to save their miserable selves,'' Ms. Torre said. Here’s a link to the 1995 lawsuit, courtesy of the NYT.

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on July 13, 2009 (boomark / email).