Supreme Court reverses Sotomayor case

The Supreme Court has ruled that white firefighters in New Haven, Conn., were unfairly denied promotions because of their race.

The case has received special attention because Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor was part of an appellate panel that issued the ruling that was today overturned.

Legal experts say the 5-to-4 High Court ruling could alter employment practices across the country and make it harder to prove discrimination.

Sotomayor on taxes: Capitol Hill is obviously paying close attention to all of Sotomayor's prior rulings, not just the high-profile ones.

Those in the tax world, however, don't have a lot to examine.

"Sotomayor has not written extensively in the area of taxation," notes the Congressional Research Service (CRS), "and it is not possible to draw conclusions about her judicial philosophy from the tax cases in which she has been involved."

That difficulty notwithstanding, CRS has released Judge Sonia Sotomayor: Analysis of Selected Opinions, which includes a section on her tax-relevant rulings.

I know all you fellow tax geeks will want to examine the CRS analysis carefully at your own pace, so I won't spoil that thrill by repeating its contents here. Enjoy!

And we'll have to wait and see if any tax-related questions come up during Sotomayor's confirmation hearings later this summer.