Supreme Court rules in favor of white firefighters in closely watched case

In a closely watched case, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5-4 on Monday in favor of white firefighters in New Haven, Connecticut who filed a racial discrimination suit against the city that denied them promotions.

The firefighters alleged that the city of New Haven unlawfully threw out a test that was used to determine promotions for the local fire department after black and Latino applicants failed to score high enough on the exam.

The city argued that they were obliged under the law to examine the racial impact of the test after minority firefighters failed to score high enough, but the white firefighters argued that the initial test results should have been accepted.

"Fear of litigation alone cannot justify an employer's reliance on race to the detriment of individuals who passed the examinations and qualified for promotions," Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote for the majority. He was joined by Justices John Roberts, Samuel Alito, Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas, who is the only African member of the Court. The case is Ricci v. DeStefano (PDF file link).

Despite complaints from some who feared the test was biased, the Court's majority ruled that "the process was open and fair." The problem, the Court said, came after the tests were completed, when "the raw racial results became the predominant rationale" for the City's decision not to certify the results. "Confronted with arguments both for and against certifying the test results--and threats of a lawsuit either way--the City was required to make a difficult inquiry," the majority admitted. But the City was "not entitled to disregard the tests based solely on the racial disparity in the results."

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, in her dissent, blasted the majority, saying the Court "pretends that "[t]he City rejected the test results solely because the higher scoring candidates were white." The majority "ignores substantial evidence of multiple flaws in the tests New Haven used," she wrote. "The Court similarly fails to acknowledge the better tests used in other cities, which have yielded less racially skewed outcomes.

Ginsburg concluded that the white firefighters "had no vested right to promotion. Nor have other persons received promotions in preference to them."

The case has generated a great deal of attention, not only because it involves controversial issues of race and affirmative action, but also because the lower court that ruled on the case on appeal included Judge Sonia Sotomayor. Sotomayor has been nominated by President Barack Obama to succeed retiring Justice David Souter.

Justice Souter voted in favor of Sotomayor's lower court opinion upholding the city's action. He was joined by Justices Breyer, Ginsburg and Stevens in their four person dissent.

Sotomayor's majority on the Second Circuit Court of Appeals found that it was permissible for the city of New Haven to dispense with the test results. But on Monday, the Supreme Court, overruled the Second Circuit.The Court typically reserves some of its most controversial and difficult decisions until the end of its term in June, and this year is not an exception. The next court term will begin the first Monday in October and the Obama administration hopes that Judge Sotomayor will win a seat on the bench well before then.