In Ricci v. DeStefano. in a 5-4 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court has said Judge Sotomayor was wrong to conclude that white firefighters hadn’t been discriminated against because of their race when the City of New Haven, Connecticut denied them promotions. What timing!

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As noted in two previous posts, the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Ricci v. DeStefano would be important because of its potential to change the way discrimination cases are evaluated under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act and because Judge Sonia Sotomayor was one of three judges who issued the decision being reviewed by the Supreme Court. (Click here and here.) The Court’s decision is now in. The majority of the Court disagreed with Sotomayor, issuing one of the most significant opinions ever under Title VII.

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The above title may be a bit of an overstatement, but Cultural Offering provides us a cartoon that’s right on target.

In a previous post, the case of Ricci v. DeStefano was reviewed. This is the so-called New Haven firefighters case in which Judge Sotomayor was one of three Second Circuit Court of Appeals judges to sign off on an opinion that ruled against white firefighters who had qualified for promotions but were denied them because the promotion tests had a disproportionate impact on African-American and Hispanic candidates. The U.S. Supreme Court has reversed that decision.

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I was saddened by the recent deaths of Ed McMahon, Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson. I didn’t know them, of course, but all three were part of most of my life. McMahon made Johnny Carson even better. Fawcett made shaving cream, detective work and just about anything else more beautiful. Jackson’s marvelous talent made all of us sing and dance.

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Three opinions authored by Judge Sonia Sotomayor fall into this general category of traditional labor matters. Because of these decisions and the ones she decided as a district court judge, she may actually have more traditional labor experience than any of the current justices on the U. S. Supreme Court.

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John Prine sings a powerful, heartbreaking song about a wounded soldier who comes back home, tries to work, but spends all his money on a drug habit he can’t kick. “All the money goes through the hole in daddy’s arm.”

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I’ve previously linked The Man Gene to science and to swine flu. Republican Governor Mark Sanford of South Carolina now provides compelling evidence that there’s a link between The Man Gene and mental illness.

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There’s only one Second Circuit case authored by Judge Sotomayor to fall within the category of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). It’s a somewhat important case, since it deals with whether time commuting to and from work is compensable, and it shows a practical side of Sotomayor that seems to override a purely legal approach to a case.

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It’s routine for all kinds of employees to bow their heads silently during all kinds of meetings. Is the person speaking at the meeting leading a prayer? Are the employees praying silently? No. Title VII of the Civil Rights Act isn’t implicated at all. These folks are intently using their BlackBerrys.

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Most employers are looking for all kinds of ways to cut costs right now. Here’s a video clip that shows you the role a supervisor can have in this cost-cutting effort.

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There are two cases from the Second Circuit in the category of retaliation and harassment which also consider allegations of unlawful discrimination. The primary holdings by Judge Sotomayor in these cases deal with retaliation and harassment and demonstrate her ability to delineate among various types of retaliation, harassment, and discrimination claims in which the lines are sometimes blurred. Her holdings also demonstrate that when she finds probable harassment or retaliation, there’s little doubt a reasonable jury could use the voluminous evidence in existence as a basis for also finding harassment or retaliation.

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As reported on this blog last year, the U.S. Supreme court ruled that the Second Amendment gives individuals a right to keep and bear arms for personal use. The Court didn’t say whether the Second Amendment generally applies to state and local governments. The Court’s ruling also didn’t directly affect employer policies banning guns from the workplace.

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Ralph Waldo Emerson, 19th century essayist, philosopher, poet, orator and Transcendentalist, said something that rings more true today than when he said it.

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Two opinions authored by Judge Sonia Sotomayor are concerned with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). You will recall that she decided two ADA cases as a district court judge. Since the ADA Amendments Act (ADAAA) is likely to spawn new disabiity discrimination litigation that will be subject to rules different than those previously considered by the current Supreme Court, looking at Sotomayor’s past approach to the ADA may be useful in trying to predict how she’ll consider new ADA cases.

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