Karen Torre was the attorney who had the difficult task of convincing the Supreme Court to review a one-paragraph summary ruling by the Second Circuit Court of Appeals. But convince them she did. On June 29, 2009, the Supreme Court ruled that Frank Ricci and 17 other New Haven, Connecticut, firefighters were illegally discriminated against when city officials discarded promotional examination results in which white and Hispanic firefighters scored higher than African American firefighters. Ricci, et al. v. DeStefano, et al., Nos. 07-1428, 08-328.
- U.S. Supreme Court Building
The case drew national attention both because of the legal issues involving race and because Judge—now Supreme Court Justice—Sonia Sotomayor sat on the Court of Appeals panel that had decided against the firefighters.
Cockle Law Brief Printing Company was proud to play a small role in the Ricci case. Cockle worked with Ms. Torre in printing both the Petition for Writ of Certiorari and the Petitioner’s Brief on the Merits. See Ricci Petition for Writ of Certiorari. At the petition stage, Cockle worked to prepare more than 1,000 pages for the appendix that accompanied the petition. At the merits stage, Cockle printed not only the Petitioner’s brief, but also eight Amicus briefs representing various interests.
Speaking of her work with Cockle, Ms. Torre stated: “At the recommendation of colleagues, I used Cockle Law Brief for both the petitioning process and the merits stage of Ricci v. DeStefano. This was my first case before the U.S. Supreme Court and I needed special help. Cockle turned out to be a great choice. The Cockle staff was there for me every step of the way in this complex case. They are not only highly knowledgeable and experienced but they love what they do and it shows. They extended themselves to me and guided me through this process with perfection, patience and a cheerful attitude. They are truly the best.”