From the AP:
WASHINGTON (June 29) -- The Supreme Court ruled Monday that white firefighters in New Haven, Conn., were unfairly denied promotions because of their race, reversing a decision that high court nominee Sonia Sotomayor endorsed as an appeals court judge.
New Haven was wrong to scrap a promotion exam because no African-Americans and only two Hispanic firefighters were likely to be made lieutenants or captains based on the results, the court said Monday in a 5-4 decision. The city said that it had acted to avoid a lawsuit from minorities
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Salon already has a post up saying a 5-4 split means Sotomayor is mainstream.
Ok, so what does the public thinks:

http://www.quinnipiac.edu/x1295.xml?ReleaseID=1307

American voters say 55 - 36 percent that affirmative action should be abolished, and disagree 71 - 19 percent with Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor's ruling in the New Haven firefighters' case, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released today.
More than 70 percent of voters say diversity is not a good enough reason to give minorities preferential treatment in competition for government or private sector jobs, the independent Quinnipiac (KWIN-uh-pe-ack) University survey of more than 3,000 voters finds.
Looking at specifics of affirmative action, American voters:
• Support 55 - 39 percent affirmative action for the disabled in hiring, promotions and college admissions. Protestants and Catholics support it, 49 - 46 percent and 49 - 47 percent, respectively. Jews also support it 59 - 25 percent;
• Oppose 70 - 25 percent giving some racial groups preference for government jobs to increase diversity. Black voters support it 49 - 45 percent while Hispanic voters are opposed 58 - 38 percent;
• Oppose 74 - 21 percent giving some racial groups preference for private sector jobs to increase diversity. Voters in every racial and religious group oppose this;
• Oppose 64 - 29 percent affirmative action for Hispanics in hiring, promotion and college entry. Black voters support it 59 - 30 percent while Hispanics split 47 - 48 percent;
• Oppose 61 - 33 percent affirmative action for blacks in hiring, promotion and college entry. Black voters support this 69 - 26 percent, as do Hispanics 51 - 46 percent;
Oppose 62 - 32 percent affirmative action for white women in hiring, promotion and college entry. Women oppose this 58 - 35 percent but blacks support it 55 - 37 percent.

AOL Spot poll:

What do you think of the Supreme Court’s Decision on the firefighters:
I agree with it --- 92%

It is time to re-think affirmative action. I was an avid fan. We needed a vehicle to move people of color into the middle class.
Now, we need a timetable for withdrawal.

Why? Well, currently black women with the same education are paid more than their white counterparts; black men with the same education are paid more than their female counterparts, black, or white. It is time to begin the drawdown. It is time to plan the pull out. We need to move all women toward the model of educate before you procreate and that will do more for lifting those in poverty towards a middle class life than continued affirmative actions, which has clear drawbacks.

I am going to ask you a simple question: if you are to undergo brain surgery and the neurosurgeon is black are you more or less likely to get a second opinion?

(Remember, unlike with Mr. Obama, there is not a massive media onslaught telling you how smart this surgeon is, no one to overlook his (Obama’s) C average transcripts in undergrad or his lackluster performance up to date, no one to beef up his accomplishments and downplay his failures. Only the belief that this fella (surgeon) needed only sub-standard grades to get into med school.)

This is the drawback of affirmative action. And it is a very real drawback. People of color will be deemed less able based on the assumption they may well have not been as bright as others in their class. As Sotomayer has said: “ My test scores were not comparable to my colleagues at Princeton and Yale. Not so far off so that I wasn't able to succeed at those institutions."

But who wants a brain surgeon who was picked based on his or her ability to succeed rather than her ability to be one of the best, to flourish?

I won’t do a formal poll, but my guess is many would get a second opinion based on the worry that affirmative action put this person of color in medical school, based on the worry that he is just not as good as the white guy or girl who got no special grade promo.

(With a white female surgeon it will be a different worry…a cultural bias against women, rather than the fear her grades did not put her there. Women (whites) must get the grades, we know that. As a matter of fact, currently white women are at the bottom of most college admissions preferences, simple because they are not getting enough men to go to college. The recession may change that, but….we will see. )

Obama has picked Sotomayor solely on her commitment to affirmative action. His other picks will be of the same nature. Obama is very pro affirmative action. Make no mistake on this issue.

But is Obama only ensuring that as our culture moves (see Obama presidency) more firmly towards accepting people of color as not intellectually inferior, we are being told that is the only way they can keep up. Will the black surgeon's children have the same doubts about their competence to haunt them. I am afraid that if Obama has his court the legacy of doubt will continue even as our culture tries to move forward.

The firefighter case sucked. The public knows this! The public knows that when their house is afire they want someone calling the shots who was able to identify what the accurate shots are! The tests given to those firefighters did not ask them about quantum physics, it asked them how best to fight fires.
The public really wants to trust the firefighters who come a calling--black, white or purple. We need to let this happen.

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Race: Sotomayor And Obama Versus Voters
IT'S CLEAR THAT AMERICANS WANT RACIALLY PREFERENTIAL AFFIRMATIVE-ACTION PROGRAMS ABOLISHED.
http://www.nationaljournal.com/njmagazine/or_20090606_9502.php

http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/06/11/sotomayor.affirmative.action/inde...