Posted by Jonathan Adler:
Welcome to Washington, Mr. Ricci:
http://volokh.com/archives/archive_2009_07_05-2009_07_11.shtml#1247331564
Senate Republicans opted to call New Haven firefighters Frank Ricci
and Ben Vargas to testify at Sonia Sotomayor's confirmation hearings
in order to score political points against Judge Sotomayor over the
issue of affirmative action. Now Judge Sotomayor's advocates are
seeking to take Frank Ricci down a notch so as to blunt any effect of
his testimony. [1]McClatchy reports:
Supporters of Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor are quietly
targeting the Connecticut firefighter who's at the center of
Sotomayor's most controversial ruling. . . .
On Friday, citing in an e-mail "Frank Ricci's troubled and
litigious work history," the liberal advocacy group People for the
American Way drew reporters' attention to Ricci's past. Other
advocates for Sotomayor have discreetly urged journalists to pursue
similar story lines.
Specifically, the advocates have zeroed in on an earlier 1995
lawsuit Ricci filed claiming the city of New Haven discriminated
against him because he's dyslexic. The advocates cite other
Hartford Courant stories from the same era recounting how Ricci was
fired by a fire department in Middletown, Conn., allegedly, Ricci
said at the time, because of safety concerns he raised.
Last night, Slate posted [2]"Fire Proof," an article by Dahlia
Lithwick detailing Frank Ricci's litigious past.
References
1. http://www.mcclatchydc.com/227/story/71660.html
2. http://www.slate.com/id/2222087/
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