I can agree that "fair" does not always mean proportionate numbers. Apart from that tho I don't think I know enough about the issues of the case to decide whether I agree with this particular decision. For instance, were the scores of minority candidates the only basis for saying the test was not fair?
On Mon, Jun 29, 2009 at 11:04 AM, Judah McAuley<[email protected]> wrote: > > Uh, it was a 5-4 ruling. They disagreed with the ruling of a 3 judge > panel, only one member of which was Sotomayor. The appeals court > ruling was upholding a lower court ruling. This decision was not about > Sotomayor. > > You might want to look at the actual facts and decisions in the case > as well instead of polarizing political discussion. The ruling at the > appeals court level said that the test should be thrown out because > the law in question required it to be thrown out due to the outcome of > the test. The lower court and appeals court showed deference to > Congress and the way they wrote the law. The Supreme Court today > overturned Congress on said that the outcome of the test shouldn't be > the primary determinant of its fairness. > > I don't know if Sotomayor is a racist or not. I'd guess not. But this > case was actually about showing deference to Congress (that whole > judicial restraint thing you know) and applying the law as written. > The Conservative-leaning Supreme Court was the one overturning the > will of Congress, which I kept getting told by right-wing folks is > Bad...except of course when you agree with overturning the will of > Congress and legislating from the bench. > > I really don't have any particular issue with this Supreme Court > ruling, actually. I think it will complicate matters immensely in the > short term, but we do need to reasses the concept of "fairness" and > affirmative action and how things should be applied. I hope that this > is a wake up call for Congress and society to revisit the issue and > come (hopefully) to something approaching a new consensus. > > Judah > > On Mon, Jun 29, 2009 at 9:38 AM, Bruce Sorge<[email protected]> wrote: >> >> http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,529409,00.html >> >> Of course, CNN has the story buried inside a bunch of other news links. >> Hmm, weird. >> >> http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/06/29/supreme.court.discrimination/index.html >> >> Some lines are almost comical: >> >> Ginsburg quotes: >> >> "The white firefighters who scored high on New Haven's promotional exams >> understandably attract the court's sympathy," she said. "But they had no >> vested right to promotion." >> >> "Relying so heavily on pencil-and-paper exams to select firefighters is >> a dubious practice," Ginsburg said, calling the majority ruling "troubling." >> >> "Congress endeavored to promote equal opportunity in fact, and not >> simply in form. The damage today's decision does to that objective is >> untold," she said. >> >> One quote I heard on the news was that the Afican-American test takers >> said that the test was not fair. Really? We are still playing the "it >> was not fair" card? We have a freaking African-American President! It is >> obvious that ANYONE can achieve anything they want, regardless of color. >> We have minorities in the senate, congress, and many other levels of >> government. We had an African-American holding the highest position in >> the US military. In other words, stop with the lame ass excuses. There >> is no reason that a group of individuals from any background cannot pass >> a written/oral exam. Everyone has a chance to pull themselves up by >> their bootstraps and make something of themselves. >> >> Anyway, it will be interesting to see how this plays out in her >> confirmation hearings. Me thinks that Mr. Obama needs to start looking >> for another nominee, preferably one who is not inclined to lean on the >> racist side of rulings. >> >> >> >> > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Want to reach the ColdFusion community with something they want? Let them know on the House of Fusion mailing lists Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/message.cfm/messageid:299212 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=89.70.5
