WASHINGTON — Republicans announced yesterday that they plan to call a white Connecticut firefighter to testify against Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor during her Senate confirmation hearings, which open Monday.
Sotomayor was part of an appellate-court panel that rejected firefighter Frank Ricci’s challenge to New Haven’s decision to scrap the results of a promotion test because too few minorities scored highly enough to qualify.
The Supreme Court last week reversed that lower-court ruling, supported by Sotomayor, that had upheld the city’s decision.
Republicans point to Sotomayor’s decision as evidence she might let her personal views — particularly a belief in racial preferences for minorities — taint her decisions.
Democrats will use the hearings to counter that charge and introduce Sotomayor as a mainstream judge.