The Administration's Line on Sotomayor and the New Haven Fire Fighters

The New Haven firefighter case is one of the most controversial rulings in Sotomayor's record, and one that will no doubt be a prime source of criticism from conservatives. The case, Ricci vs. DeStefano, was brought by Frank Ricci and a group of his firefighting colleagues (all non-black including one Hispanic man). The men were denied promotion after an examination to determine their eligibility to move up yielded no successful black candidates. As a result, the New Haven authority decided to discard the exam results and grant no promotions. Ricci and his colleagues argued they'd been discriminated against, but their case was dismissed. Sotomayor was part of a three judge panel on the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals who upheld the dismissal. The case is currently pending before the Supreme Court. It raised considerable ire, sparking affirmative action debates.

In a background briefing at the White House this morning, Senior Administration Officials gave clues as to how they'll handle attacks based on this case. During her vetting, White House officials were very careful to avoid asking her about the Ricci case because, depending on both the Supreme Court's actions and her confirmation, it might end up before her again, one official told reporters. But officials shared their own analysis. "It was a unanimous decision by the panel that she sat on. It applied second circuit law very faithfully. It did rely upon what was a very thoughtful well written district court opinion," one official said. "The ruling there I think was a fairly constrained application of what the law of the second circuit is. I know people have come and want to use this as a point to attack Judge Sotomayor, but again, I think her job as a court of appeals judge is to apply circuit law, and that is what the panel did in that case."

The notion that she acted with restraint, following precedent and applying second circuit law faithfully, will be the core of the Administration's defense of Sotomayor's handling of the Ricci case. A second official echoed these sentiments. "You can’t at once attack someone as a judicial activist and then attack her for following precedent and exercising restraint as she did in this case. I know there are those in the early going who are trying to make both cases at once but they’re sort of impeaching themselves," the official said.

The officials shied away from the term "war room" in discussing their preparations for her confirmation hearings, saying that they weren't anticipating a war. One official pointed out that is would be Sotomayor's third time before the U.S. Senate, and she'd recieved bipartisan support previously. Senator Chuck Schumer is expected to play a key role in shepharding her through the Senate. Cynthia Hogan, Vice President Biden's Chief Counsel, will head up the White House effort. The official said that they had recieved no indication that Republicans were strategizing to delay the process.