Entering "The Twilight Zone" with Robyn Blumner

clipped from trashotron.com

There is a fifth dimension beyond that which is known to man. It is a dimension as vast as space and as timeless as infinity. It is the middle ground between light and shadow, between science and superstition, and it lies between the pit of man's fears and the summit of his knowledge. This is the dimension of imagination. It is an area which we call "The Twilight Zone."

I'm totally there, dude.

I checked the online St. Petersburg Times for the latest idiocy penned by editorial columnist Robyn Blumner, but lo and behold her column almost makes sense.

When race is involved no case is minor, but Ricci vs. DeStefano gained blockbuster status after the Supreme Court nomination of Judge Sonia Sotomayor. She was part of an appellate panel that threw out the claims of the 18 white firefighters, one of whom is Hispanic, who lost out on a promotion due to the city's actions.

I believe that she and her fellow appellate judges were wrong as a matter of law and basic fairness.

That calls for a Borat-style "Whaaaaat?" Shocked incredulity stretching the vowel sound for emphasis.

Judge Sotomayor is the top choice of President Obama for the Supreme Court. Remember? And Obama is the guy who isn't George W. Bush. Is Ms. Blumner prepared to transfer her disaffection for Bush to his successor in office or what?

Not only does Blumner part with Sotomayor, she also acknowledges that the conservative justices she loves to not love drove the majority opinion with which she agreed.

In the majority opinion by Justice Anthony Kennedy and joined by the court's conservatives, the court said that test results cannot be discarded for the purposes of racial balance unless there is a strong showing that the test is deficient or there were other equally valid but less discriminatory tests readily available.

"Whaaaaat?"

Expecting Rod Serling any moment, now.

The analysis of the column is spot on throughout. So why do I say it almost makes sense?

Blumner wants Democrats in control of the federal government. She wants a Democrat in the White House. She tends to disparage conservatives on the Supreme Court. If she had her way, the Ricci case would have gone the other way courtesy of a collection of more liberal justices, albeit not to the point of ruling as Judge Sotomayor did. The dissent from the Supreme Court liberals would have remanded the case back to the lower court instead of reversing the decision.

Hey, well, credit where it's due. This week's column is good, and it tends to make a shambles of Blumner's overall approach to politics and law.



July 12, 2009: Changed "lastest" idiocy to "latest"--even though I half liked the typo.