MICHAEL C. DORF

The Supreme Court Decides the New Haven Firefighter Case
FindLaw columnist and Cornell law professor Michael Dorf discusses the controversial recent Supreme Court decision that arose from a New Haven fire department's decision not to use certain test results for promotions when it discovered that the results would not lead to a single African-American firefighter's promotion. Dorf covers three interesting questions raised by the decision: In light of the fact that the Court announced a new standard, why didn't it remand for lower federal courts to apply that standard? Can Congress, if it chooses, overturn the Court's result? And, how might the decision affect the confirmation hearings of Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor, who was one of three federal appellate judges who joined the decision that the Court overturned? Wednesday, July 1, 2009