Frank Ricci, Ben Vargas and Peter Kirsanow (Credit: Rick Bloom)

New Haven firefighter Frank Ricci took the stand this afternoon to speak out against Sonia Sotomayor's ruling in Ricci v. DeStefano, the case that bears his name. But he wouldn't go so far as to pin his misgivings on the nominee herself.

"Despite the important civil and constitutional claims we raised, the Court of Appeals disposed of our case in an unsigned, unpublished summary order that consisted of a single paragraph that mentioned my dyslexia and thus led to everybody to think that this case was about me and a disability claim. This case has nothing to do with that," Ricci said in his statement. Fellow firefighter and Ricci plaintiff Ben Vargas, who was also called as a witness by ranking member Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., was sitting beside him.

In response to a question by Sen. Arlen Specter, D-Pa., Ricci wouldn't speak out against the nominee herself. "Do you have any reason to think that Judge Sotomayor acted in anything other than good faith in trying to reach a fair decision in this case?" Specter asked Ricci.

"That's beyond my legal expertise," Ricci promptly responded. "I'm not a legal scholar." He went on to say that speaking before the committee this afternoon was "the first time we've gotten to testify about this story."

Both firefighters emphasized how much time and effort they put into passing the promotion test that was at issue in Ricci. The city of New Haven, Conn., decided to discard the results of the test because no black applicants qualified for promotions. The suit was brought by 17 white firefighters and one Hispanic firefighter -- Vargas -- who said they were discriminated against when the city threw out the tests.

In his statement, Vargas also disparaged Sotomayor's brief ruling in Ricci, which she joined as part of a three-person panel. "I expected Lady Justice with the blindfolds on and a reasoned opinion from a federal Court of appeals, telling me, my fellow plaintiffs and the public what that court's view on the law was and do it in an open and transparent way," Vargas said. "Instead, we were devastated to see a one-paragraph unpublished order summarily dismissing our case and indeed even the notion that we had presented important legal issues to that Court of Appeals."