Supreme Court Firefighters Case

The United States Supreme Court has now issued its decision in RICCI ET AL. v. DESTEFANO ET AL., slip op. Overruling a Circuit Court of Appeals decision in which Supreme Court Justice candidate Sotomayor participated, the Court upheld a reverse discrimination claim by New Haven, Connecticut, firefighters who had passed a test for promotion, thrown out because too many whites and hispanics scored too highly. The City of New Haven, at great expense, hired a firm to prepare a test that would be race neutral. According to the evidence, the firm bent over backwards to make certain that the test would be race neutral, and purely job skills-based. They interviewed a disproportionate number of minority jobholders to make certain that the test questions would be race neutral. Still, all of the highest scorers on the test were white and hispanic. Firefighters who passed the test testified to the great sums of money and time they invested in preparation for the test.

In a 5-4 decision, a majority of the Supreme Court held that-disparate impact of a test that was objectively race neutral and prepared subjectively intended to be race neutral could not be arbitrarily thrown out.

While others have blogged about the irony of the "wise Latina woman" getting reversed in this high profile case, I was struck by the horror story of racial politics told by Justice Alito in his concurring opinion. According to him, a certain prominent local race baiter named Reverend Boise Kimber exerted strong influence with the mayor of the city of New Haven to get the test thrown out.

With all of this "hope and change," how can we expect racial politics to come to any sort of end?