NYT: Excerpts From Sotomayor's Rulings

[steven johnson]

As a federal judge, Sonia Sotomayor has often sided with people claiming discrimination in education and employment, backed police and prosecutors over defendants and upheld assertions of free speech and religion. In other words, she has a mixed record. Not exactly a flamming liberal activist. But then not a neocon dittohead either.
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Excerpts from rulings and dissents by Judge Sonia Sotomayor of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit in New York:

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A 2002 ruling against a challenge to a government policy that prohibits foreign organizations receiving U.S. funds from performing or supporting abortions: ''The Supreme Court has made clear that the government is free to favor the anti-abortion position over the pro-choice position, and can do so with public funds.''

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A 1999 dissent in a discrimination case in which a first-grader was transferred midyear to kindergarten, and subsequently alleged the school was indifferent to racial hostility: ''Underlying this abrupt decisionmaking process, furthermore, was the crucial fact that'' the boy ''was the only black child in his classroom and one of the very few black students in the entire school. Reading the record in this light, a jury reasonably could conclude that the school did not give the black student an equal chance to succeed or fail. Contrary to the suggestion of the majority, such a conclusion would be based not 'merely' on a finding that the events in this case were 'unusual,' but on the inference, drawn from substantial circumstantial evidence, that they were tainted by race discrimination.''

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In a 1999 case dismissing claims brought by a disabled black woman. She said her employer did not give her the same accommodations for her disabilities that it provided to white employees: ''The employee must offer evidence showing both that the position offered was inferior to her former job and that a comparable position, for which the employee was qualified, was open. This dual burden limits an employer's obligations with respect to reassignment as a method of reasonable accommodation. For example, an employer need not reassign an employee if no position is vacant. Nor is the employer obliged to create a new position to accommodate the employee. Moreover, the disabled individual must show that she is qualified for the vacant position, and the employer retains the option of establishing that reassignment would create an undue hardship.''

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In dissent in a 2006 case, arguing for dismissal of an age discrimination allegation in which a minister sued after he was forced to retire when he was 70: The Age Discrimination in Employment Act ''does not apply to employment suits brought against religious institutions by their spiritual leaders.''

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Excerpts From Sotomayor's Rulings