Supreme Court Backs Firefighters !

Update, 2:50 pm: Link to full ruling and videos added. Scroll down.

THE U. S. SUPREME COURT HANDED DOWN ITS DECISION this morning on the appeal by New Haven, Connecticut, firefighters who claimed they were unfairly denied promotions because of their race.

The Court’s ruling overturning the lower Appeals Court’s denial was decided on a 5 – 4 vote.

Six years ago, in 2003, the New Haven Fire Dept. held a promotional examination to establish a list of qualified applicants to fill vacancies for Fire Captain and Fire Lieutenant. The final score for the exam was weighted 60% for the written portion of the exam and 40% for the oral interview.

In order to preclude any difficulties arising from racial discrimination accusations, the city hired a “diversity testing firm” for $100,000 to design a race-neutral examination. Yet when the test results were compiled, the top members on the list were all white applicants and one hispanic. The rest of the protected class members were so far down the list that they would not be promoted from it.

The city Civil Service Board was unhappy with the results (they were hoping for a happy racial mix that reflected the population distribution) and arbitrarily threw out the examination results. They claimed that they did that to prevent being sued by minority groups.

The top scorers on the list then filed a reverse-discrimination suit against the city and it has been wending its way through the courts now for five years. In that time, no vacancies have been filled while the open slots have been apportioned to lower-level officers filling them on an “acting” basis, including some members who failed the promotional exam that is contested.

The complainants lost their initial trial and were rebuffed by the Court of Appeals who upheld the city’s actions. On January 9 of this year the Supreme Court agreed to accept the appeal from the New Haven, Connecticut, firefighters in the case known as Ricci v. DeStefano.

Update, 2:50 pm:
Dave Statter at STATter911 has posted the full Supreme Court ruling (in .pdf). You can read the entire 92-page decision HERE.

WTNH-TV Ch. 8, New Haven has this video report on the ruling:

WTNH-TV also has this press confernce held shortly after noon by the firefighters’ lawyer:

Shortly afterwards New Haven Mayor John DeStefano held this news conference:

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B. Morgan

Good decision! The people who work hard, study and develope good skills should be the ones promoted, because they earned it. Not because of race, sex or ethnic background. People who have earned their promotions are proud of that and usually perform better. In dangerous situations there are no minorities only co-workers that know how to correctly react and keep everone safe.

Dal90

DeStefano is a flaming liberal who doesn't do well outside of his own little clique and his connections with inner city politicos.

He ran for Governor last time around and went down in flames because he sounds like an idiot -- how he is talking in this press conference is just how he sounds like over the radio or on TV. No charisma, harps on liberal dogma, and generally sounds unprepared to answer questions.

In the last Democratic primary he ran against Stamford mayor Dan Malloy, who while not a flaming liberal glows pretty darn bright -- and the thing is Malloy comes across as a competent, fair, genuinely knowledgeable politician I could vote for. DeStefano always sounds like he's annoyed he's not out making back room deals and is having to remember talking points.

Charles Emerson

The four misfits who chose to go against what is clearly the right and honorable decision that found this to be descrimination should hang their heads in shame.

These liberal knuckleheads have to realize that they are not doing a favor for blacks by handing them jobs that they did not earn. By doing so, liberals make a statement that blacks are not as smart as the rest of society and also serves to encourage blacks to never strive to be all that they can be but rather to sit back and have everything handed to them.

I worked with some great black guys on the job over the years, all of whom studied hard and worked out to earn their positions just as the rest of us did. They were proud members of a color blind team and had the respect of everyone else who earned their jobs. Then there were the ones who got their spots because the court mandated it ... they were a disaster (incompetant, unmotivated lumps. A hazard to the public and to the firefighters alike.)

This decision was a no brainer. It's a shame that it had to go to the highest court to be decided. It should have been handled correctly by Mr. Obama's nominee for the supreme court, but she is too liberal to make correct decisions. Oh yeah, she doesn't like white men ... hmm, how will she ever make unbiased decisions?

DaGonz

The fire service needs to by the best and brightest (which does not mean "book smarts" over "street smarts".. there needs to be a balance of both!), regardless of race, religion or lack thereof.

This should have been a 9-0 decision. However, the New Haven 20 prevailed... and those guys deserve the promotions. Congrats, guys.. make us proud.

John R

Two thoughts:
First, this was not a reverse discrimination case. This was discrimination, plain and simple.
Second, I find it troubleing that the court ruled 5-4 on something this cut and dry.

Happy Medic

Equal opportunity under the law. It has been upheld. I applaud the court and look forward to reading the opinion in detail later today.

Blue

As someone who's father was a victim of race based promotions, I think this is great. I only wish he was alive to celebrate it.

Tony

As a police officer in the Dayton, Ohio area, I am thrilled that the firefighters who were descriminated against have been vindicated by the Supreme Court. This will hopefully strike a blow for all civil servants and citizenry who are tired of the old lies and arguements that have been used to promote less qualified individuals!!!