U.S. Supreme Court Rules for Firefighters Denied Promotion, Reversing Judge Sotomayor

Fear of litigation alone cannot justify the City's reliance on race to the detriment of individuals who passed the examinations and qualified for promotions.

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WASHINGTON (Catholic Online) - In a closely watched case, Ricci et al. v. Destefano et al., which was heard on a Writ of Certiorari, the U.S. Supreme Court was asked to review the Second Circuit Court of Appeals, the Court where Judge Sonia Sotomayor served. The Justices overturned Judge Sonia Sotomayor's controversial ruling on a 5 - 4 vote.

Here is the Court's own summary taken from its just released synopsis:

"New Haven, Conn. (City), uses objective examinations to identify those firefighters best qualified for promotion. When the results of such an exam to fill vacant lieutenant and captain positions showed that white candidates had outperformed minority candidates, a rancorous public debate ensued. Confronted with arguments both for and against certifying the test results--and threats of a lawsuit either way--the City threw out the results based on the statistical racial disparity. Petitioners, white and Hispanic firefighters who passed the exams but were denied a chance at promotions by the City's refusal to certify the test results, sued the City and respondent officials, alleging that discarding the test results discriminated against them based on their race in violation of, inter alia, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

"The defendants responded that had they certified the test results, they could have faced Title VII liability for adopting a practice having a disparate impact on minority firefighters. The District Court granted summary judgment for the defendants, and the Second Circuit affirmed.

"Held: The City's action in discarding the tests violated Title VII... Fear of litigation alone cannot justify the City's reliance on race to the detriment of individuals who passed the examinations and qualified for promotions. Discarding the test results was impermissible under Title VII, and summary judgment is appropriate for peti-tioners on their disparate-treatment claim."

The opinion could have significance as the confirmation process for Judge Sotomayor to fill the seat left vacant by retiring Justice Souter on the US Supreme Court unfolds. In short, the highest Court of the land held that Judge Sotomayors' judgment on this hotly disputed area of civil rights law was in error.

The City of New Haven did not follow its own policy and failed to promote the successful candidates. They then justified their action by finding that since no African-Americans and only two Hispanic firefighters would have become lieutenants or captains based on the results; they might have been sued by minority applicants who scored lower and they wanted to avoid a lawsuit. The High Court ruled that in so doing they themselves violated Title VII.

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Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote the majority opinion and was joined by Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Samuel Alito, Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas.

In a dissent read aloud in the courtroom, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said the firefighters who complained, "...understandably attract this court's sympathy. But they had no vested right to promotion. Nor have other persons received promotions in preference to them." She was joined by Justices Stephen Breyer, David Souter and John Paul Stevens who signed onto her dissent.

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