Rethinking Sotomayor

Tom Goldstein from the SCOTUS blog widened the scope of Sotomayor's rulings on issues of racial discrimination by reading all 50 of the cases having to do with the issue. This is what he found:

In those 50 cases, the panel accepted the claim of race discrimination only three times. In all three cases, the panel was unanimous; in all three, it included a Republican appointee. In roughly 45, the claim was rejected. (Two were procedural dispositions.) On the other hand, she twice was on panels reversing district court decisions agreeing with race-related claims - i.e., reversing a finding of impermissible race-based decisions. Both were criminal cases involving jury selection.

In the 50 cases, the panel was unanimous in every one. There was a Republican appointee in 38, and these panels were all obviously unanimous as well. Thus, in the roughly 45 panel opinions rejecting claims of discrimination, Judge Sotomayor never dissented.

It seems to me that these numbers decisively disprove the claim that she decides cases with any sort of racial bias.

I can't say much except that I'm happy to have been proven wrong. I still wonder about the New Haven case and the hasty manner in which the opinion was written, but in light of the evidence, it's clear that there are larger issues to address at the confirmation hearing.