"Minor Inconsistencies" and "Disgruntled Employees"

As more people make a lot of noise about Samuel Alito's opinion about abortion, I continue to dig up evidence even more damning on his civil rights record as a federal judge. Take a look at what Mr. Sensitivity had to say in this dissent in a case where a black woman sued the Marriott chain, where she worked as a housekeeping manager, for racial discrimination.

The Washington Post reported that in the case of Bray vs. Marriott, the three-judge panel in Newark, New Jersey, on which Judge Alito sits, determined that there was enough evidence for Beryl Bray to sue Marriott for discrimination. But as the lone dissenter, Alito wrote that while the hotel chain might have committed "minor inconsistencies" in their hiring practices, it would be unfair to allow "disgruntled employees to impose the costs of trial on employers who, although they have not acted with the intent to discriminate, may have treated their employees unfairly."

The two other judges on the panel sharply rebuked Alito for his logic, saying that if that standard were applied to the law banning employment discrimination across the board, it could never be enforced!

Also, I might add, Alito's train of thought suggested that even if employers "may have" treated their employees unfairly, workers have no business bringing suits against them because it would cost businesses too much money. And how much does the Marriott chain make annually, anyway? More money than someone like Beryl Bray would ever see even if she won a discrimination suit.

Of course, such disregard for the unfair treatment of black people on Alito's part does not come as a surprise to me. After all, as a resident of Judge Alito's hometown, I'm here to tell you that most of us in West Caldwell, New Jersey don't understand what black people go through all the time, because most of us in this town are white. (The town library inexplicably includes Essence on its magazine rack, even though the black female population of West Caldwell could hold a meeting of a local United Council of Negro Women chapter in a broom closet and still have ample room.)

On that score, liberals have complained about the lack of diversity that will result on the Supreme Court if Judge Alito is confirmed. Now, that's unfair! With so many liberal to moderate Anglo-Saxons and Irish-Americans on the Court now, shouldn't we give Bush at least some credit for picking a Italian-American conservative Republican from New Jersey for a cha. . . Oh yeah, that's right, the Court's already got one of those! :-O

And like his black colleague Clarence Thomas, Antonin Scalia seems to have forgotten the discrimination his people faced decades ago.

That seems to be one more thing Scalia has in common with Alito.

So much for diversity.