Not only is he playing the race card, but he is misrepresenting Judge Alito’s record in doing so, claiming that Judge Alito has never once in 15 years ruled for a “person of color.” Oh? What about:
* In Goosby v. Johnson & Johnson Medical, Inc., 228 F.3d 313 (3d Cir. 2000), a race and sex discrimination case, Judge Alito reversed the district court’s decision to grant summary judgment to the defendant employer. The Third Circuit ruled that the plaintiff, a black woman, had introduced enough evidence to call into doubt the employer’s explanation for why she was given lower-quality assignments.
* In Smith v. Davis, 248 F.3d 249 (3d Cir. 2001), an African-American probation officer brought a claim of race and disability discrimination in violation of Title VII and the Americans with Disabilities Act. Judge Alito joined a unanimous decision to reverse the lower court’s grant of summary judgment for the defendant employer.
* In United States v. Kithcart, 134 F.3d 529 (3d Cir. 1998), Judge Alito overturned the defendant’s conviction for being a felon in possession of a firearm, concluding that police had no probable cause to stop and search him. Judge Alito wrote: “[A]rmed with information that two black males driving a black sports car were believed to have committed three robberies in the area some relatively short time earlier, Officer Nelson could not justifiably arrest any African-American man who happened to drive by in any type of black sports car.”
* In Jones v. Ryan, 987 F.2d 960 (3d Cir. 1993), an African-American defendant was convicted in Pennsylvania court of robbery and criminal conspiracy; at trial, the prosecutor used peremptory challenges to exclude three African-Americans from the jury. Judge Alito joined a unanimous opinion holding that the prosecutor had discriminated against the potential jurors on the basis of race, and granting the defendant habeas relief.
* In Brinson v. Vaughn, 398 F.3d 225 (3d Cir. 2005), an African-American defendant was convicted of first-degree murder in Pennsylvania court and sentenced to life in prison. The prosecutor had used 13 out of
14 peremptory challenges against African-American potential jurors, and Judge Alito held that this pattern raised an inference of discrimination.