Frank Ricci: All You Need To Know (PHOTOS, INFO, VIDEO)

Republicans have announced that they plan to call on Frank Ricci, the white firefighter whose reverse discrimination claim was rejected by Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor, to testify against Sotomayor in confirmation hearings set to begin on Monday. Here are some things you should know about the man.

Upbringing: Ricci was born in Wallingford, CT, a blue-collar town about 20 minutes outside New Haven. He has an uncle and two brothers who are also firefighters.

Dyslexia: Ricci has dyslexia, a learning disability that affects reading and writing skills. Ricci received poor marks during his years at Connecticut public schools, and his dyslexia most likely contributed.

During the Ricci vs. Stefano proceedings, lawyers for the firefighters highlighted Ricci's dyslexia. A legal brief filed in Supreme Court alleged that the disability obligated Ricci to "hir[e] someone, at considerable expense, to read onto audiotape the content of the books and study materials" so he could learn by listening.

Teaching and Consulting Work: Ricci's profile on the firefighting network fireengineering.com offers a long list of teaching and consulting jobs: instructor for new recruits; consultant for Yale, the FDNY and various corporate groups; trainer to the US military and SWAT teams.

In addition, Ricci is the author of numerous training manuals and DVDs, some of which are for sale online.

Camera-Readiness: Ricci is also an amateur filmmaker: He wrote and narrated "Smoke Showing," an educational video about the dangers of structural fires that features cast members from the firefighting television show "Rescue Me."

Ricci and the other plaintiffs in Ricci vs. Stefano created a fundraising website. Many of Ricci's television recent appearances can be found on the site.

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Comments

[unite4change]

11:09 AM on 07/16/2009

Our Supreme Court just show us on what activist judges do.

[jsgaetano]

03:32 PM on 07/18/2009

Seems to me our conservative packed SCOTUS was the poster child for activist judges.

All Sotomayor did was follow the law. Not that a Gooper even understands what that means, since they are exempt from the law anyway.

[brothernumber2]

08:41 PM on 07/13/2009

He's not "white" anyway, he's Italian.... j/k... but really, he seems like the type who would have sued them over that if he still had not gotten hired ! He did sue, at only 20 years old, claiming he wasn't hired because he was dyslexic. This is exactly the kind of "litigiousness" / "victim" mentality the Republicans would usually be ripping apart.

[chronic]

11:07 PM on 07/09/2009

Joe the Plumber meet Frank the Firefighter.

I'm going broke buying popcorn!!

[unite4change]

11:08 AM on 07/16/2009

Exactly.

[stryker]

09:53 PM on 07/09/2009

I understand Mr. Ricci's point that he was denied a promotion when the appeals court upheld the city's right to disregard the test. The panel, which included Sotomayor followed the letter of the law, which conservatives would otherwise praise her for. But because it involved white firemen,the repubs will go way out trying to make Sotomaoyor as some racist broad. It is the conservative SC that practiced judicial activism here.

[rdn411]

07:08 PM on 07/09/2009

Up to this point it would seem Mr. Ricci is a hardworking, competent and skilled public servant. My admiration goes out to him. Wonder why he has he hitched himself to this train wreck of stupidity.

[jsgaetano]

03:34 PM on 07/18/2009

Because he supports affirmative action for people with dyslexia, it seems.