Republicans Accuse Sotomayor Of Reverse Discrimination
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Republicans are accusing Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor of reverse discrimination following the release of new documents by the U.S. Senate.
According to the papers, the Bronx-born federal judge once served on the board of the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund, a civil rights group that represented Hispanic sanitation workers in New York City who wanted to stop white employees from getting promoted.
The group claimed the qualifying exam was biased against minorities.
The case closely resembles a recent lawsuit by white firefighters in New Haven, Conn., who sued for discrimination after the city threw out its promotion tests because too few minorities passed.
The judicial panel, including Sotomayor, ruled against the firefighters, but the decision was reversed Monday by the Supreme Court.
Republicans say the two cases show Sotomayor has endorsed an agenda of discrimination and racial preferences for minorities.
There is no evidence that Sotomayor played any role in filing or arguing the sanitation workers' lawsuit.
Sotomayor's confirmation hearings are set to begin July 13.