Mukasey Clashed with 2nd Circuit on Bias Case
Lawyers who appeared before Attorney General nominee Michael Mukasey say he was conservative but fair.
But an appeals court took issue with two of his rulings regarding an officer’s discrimination suit against the New York Police Department, the Washington Post reports. The plaintiff, Karen Sorlucco, claimed she was fired because she had accused another officer of rape.
Sorlucco had told the department she was raped by the officer but later recanted. She claims she did so because she was threatened with firing if she did not. She was later charged with making false statements and obstructing government administration, and the department fired her. A court later ordered the charges dropped.
Mukasey initially dismissed the bias suit on a motion for summary judgment. On appeal, the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said in a 1989 ruling that the plaintiff had presented enough evidence to create a triable issue of discrimination.
A jury awarded damages of $265,000, but Mukasey granted judgment for the department notwithstanding the verdict. He said no “reasonable jury” could have found discrimination from the facts presented. In 1992, the 2nd Circuit once again reversed.
The appeals court wrote that Mukasey “tragically failed to show any sensitivity to the physical trauma and the resulting psychological manifestations commonly experienced by rape victims.”
