Sotomayor Backers Urge Press to Attack Fireman, Will Media Comply?

On the eve of Senate hearings on the appointment of Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court, her supporters are urging the media to attack the Connecticut fireman in the middle of a key ruling she made that could impact the proceedings.

The only question is whether or not Obama-loving press will comply with these wishes...or is that really even a question?

While you ponder, the following was reported by McClatchy Friday:

[Sotomayor's] advocates have been urging journalists to scrutinize what one called the "troubled and litigious work history" of firefighter Frank Ricci.

This is opposition research: a constant shadow on Capitol Hill.

"The whole business of getting Supreme Court nominees through the process has become bloodsport," said Gary Rose, a government and politics professor at Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, Conn.

On Friday, citing in an e-mail "Frank Ricci's troubled and litigious work history," the liberal advocacy group People for the American Way drew reporters' attention to Ricci's past. Other advocates for Sotomayor have discreetly urged journalists to pursue similar story lines.

Specifically, the advocates have zeroed in on an earlier 1995 lawsuit Ricci filed claiming the city of New Haven discriminated against him because he's dyslexic. The advocates cite other Hartford Courant stories from the same era recounting how Ricci was fired by a fire department in Middletown, Conn., allegedly, Ricci said at the time, because of safety concerns he raised.

The Middletown-area fire department was subsequently fined for safety violations, but the Connecticut Department of Labor dismissed Ricci's retaliation complaint.

The 35-year-old Ricci was the lead plaintiff in the case Ricci v. DeStefano, challenging New Haven's refusal to promote white firefighters after African-American and all but one Hispanic firefighters failed to score high enough on a promotion exam.

Sotomayor and a majority of the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals sided with the city's claim that it was justifiably concerned about a potential civil rights suit being filed by the African-American firefighters. [...]

Last month, however, the Supreme Court overturned the 2nd Circuit by 5-4.

As a result, this case may be a big part of the questioning Sotomayor faces from Senate Republicans next week, and her supporters want to defame the man in the middle of the issue.

Will media comply?