In Ricci v. DeStefano. in a 5-4 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court has said Judge Sotomayor was wrong to conclude that white firefighters hadn’t been discriminated against because of their race when the City of New Haven, Connecticut denied them promotions. What timing!

With Sotomayor’s confirmation hearings two weeks away on July 13, the Supreme Court’s decision will be the source of numerous questions, arguments, and pontifications during the hearings. But will the decision have an impact on whether Sotomayor is confirmed as the next justice on the Court? The Court’s Ricci decision makes the hearings a bit awkward for Sotomayor, but it’s likely to do little else.

Sotomayor would replace Justice David Souter, who was one of the four dissenting justices in the Ricci decision. It’s generally believed that Sotomayor’s judicial approach will be similar to Souter’s, so the fact that the Court’s conservative majority disagreed with Sotomayor on this case isn’t that big a deal.

It’s possible to disagree with Sotomayor’s conclusion in Ricci (the Supreme Court has proved that), but it’s not possible to say that she disregarded precedent or participated in some off-the-wall Title VII decision. Sotomayor’s and the Second Circuit’s Ricci decision was in line with what many other judges have done. She may be pressed on whether she would now follow the Supreme Court’s new Ricci ruling, but it will be difficult for anyone to seriously argue that her decision in Ricci makes her unqualified for the Supreme Court.

Other than providing ammunition for Senators already opposed to Sotomayor as well as some sharp, perhaps humorous, exchanges between the judge and the Senate Judiciary Committee, it’s difficult to see how Ricci will have any impact on Sotomayor’s confirmation. It may put Sotomayor on a seat that’s slightly hotter, but it’s unlikely to change a single vote for or against her.

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To learn more about changes in the U.S. Supreme Court, changes in employment law in 2009 and what’s on the horizon in employment law for 2010, check out the Advanced Employment Issues Symposium being held in Nashville Sept. 17-18, 2009, and in Las Vegas on Oct. 29-30, 2009.