Big Day for The Supremes

Not the Motown hitmaking trio, but the nine folks on the big bench in Washington:

A closely watched discrimination lawsuit by white firefighters who say they have unfairly been denied promotions is one of three remaining Supreme Court cases awaiting resolution Monday.

The court intends to finish its work for the summer that day, Chief Justice John Roberts said. The court also will say goodbye to Justice David Souter who has announced he will retire "when the court rises for the summer recess."

Sonia Sotomayor, nominated to take Souter's place, was one of three appeals court judges who ruled that officials in New Haven, Conn., acted properly in throwing out firefighters' promotions exams because of racially skewed results.

The city says it decided not to use the test scores to determine promotions because it might have been vulnerable to claims the exam had a "disparate impact" on minorities in violation of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The white firefighters said the decision violated the same law's prohibition on intentional discrimination.

The opinion that Sotomayor endorsed has been criticized as a cursory look at a tough issue. Among the critics are fellow judges on the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York. Her defenders have said the short opinion properly applied earlier cases from that appeals court.

The outcome of the case could alter how employers in both the public and private sectors make job-related decisions.

The other two unsettled cases involve campaign finance law and states' ability to investigate alleged discrimination in lending by national banks.

The firefighter case will be particularly interesting. The court will have the opportunity to both slap down racial preferences, but will have a chance to slap down Sonia Sotomayor as well who did everything she could to keep this case from getting to the Supreme Court. I'll have more on the Court's final decision later today.