Chris Dodd's Lack Of Empathy

Connecticut has been host to a number of cases in Supreme Court history that have had a profound impact on the legal landscape of our country, such as Griswold v. Connecticut, and more recently, Kelo v. City of New London. Over the past few weeks, as most Connecticut residents have noticed, the Constitution State is again at the center of the legal universe, this time in a reverse discrimination case arising out of the city of New Haven.

Ricci v. DeStefano is a lawsuit brought by white firefighters (including a Hispanic) who scored well on a promotional exam but were ultimately not promoted when the city refused to certify the exam results because following the procedures in place would not have resulted in enough black firefighters being promoted soon enough. Judge Sotomayor was on the Second Circuit panel that upheld the dismissal of the plaintiff's complaint. The full text of the per curiam opinion she signed on to is reproduced below:

Plaintiffs appeal from a judgment of the United States District Court for the District of Connecticut (Arterton, J.) granting the defendants’ motion for summary judgment on all counts.

We affirm, for the reasons stated in the thorough, thoughtful, and well-reasoned opinion of the court below. Ricci v. DeStefano, 2006 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 73277, 2006 WL 2828419 (D.Conn., Sept. 28, 2006). In this case, the Civil Service Board found itself in the unfortunate position of having no good alternatives. We are not unsympathetic to the plaintiffs’ expression of frustration. Mr. Ricci, for example, who is dyslexic, made intensive efforts that appear to have resulted in his scoring highly on one of the exams, only to have it invalidated. But it simply does not follow that he has a viable Title VII claim. To the contrary, because the Board, in refusing to validate the exams, was simply trying to fulfill its obligations under Title VII when confronted with test results that had a disproportionate racial impact, its actions were protected.

CONCLUSION

The judgment of the district court is AFFIRMED.

Yes, the full text. Not a whole lot of empathy for the dyslexic white guy with the Italian last name who earned, against all odds, a promotion he never got.

And what does Senator Chris Dodd, J.D. have to say on the matter? Not much, since apparently he has never bothered to spend five minutes thinking about a case of national importance and involving his own constituents.

"Well, let me take a look at it more carefully - good question," he said, laughing, as he headed into the Democrats' weekly lunch in the Capitol." H/T Politico.

Yeah, Chris, that's hysterical. Apparently he's been too busy attending ritzy fundraisers to read up on things that matter to his constituents.

Rob Simmons released a statement on his website calling out Dodd on his response; I haven't seen anything from Caligiuri or Alpert.

Dodd on Sotomayor

I love reading and writing about the politics of the Supreme Court and the nomination/confirmation process. I hope to have the time to write on it with some frequency in the coming months. I will try to do so without losing sight of the fact that this is a blog about Chris Dodd.

With that in mind, here is what Chris Dodd had to say about President Obama's nomination this morning of Second Circuit Judge Sonia Sotomayor to replace Justice David Souter on the U.S. Supreme Court, from WTNH:

President Obama has promised to bring change to Washington and he continues to do that with his choice for Supreme Court Justice. Sonia Sotomayor is a highly qualified and historic nominee. She would bring extensive legal experience and a unique perspective to the Supreme Court. I look forward to the Senate's consideration of her nomination over the next few weeks."

Fresh off his "shout out" from new best friend Barack Obama, it is no surprise that Dodd immediately fell in line on the SCOTUS pick, and he likely would have done so regardless of who the President selected. In the two sentences of his statement about Judge Sotomayor, he calls her "historic" and mentions her "unique perspective." While these descriptions may be true, they are (or ought to be) far from important when discussing the merits of a nominee to the highest Court in the land.

Unfortunately, to the people now running our country (including Chris Dodd) concerns about the race, gender and life experiences now trump fidelity to our Constitution and the rule of law. Much more on this to come...