Attorney Karen Torre (center) with New Haven firefighters including lead plaintiff Frank Ricci (center, right) outside federal court in New Haven Monday.
(Mary Altaffer/Associated Press)
Racial equity put to test
Attorney Karen Torre (center) with New Haven firefighters including lead plaintiff Frank Ricci (center, right) outside federal court in New Haven Monday.
(Mary Altaffer/Associated Press)
July 5, 2009
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THE SUPREME Court’s opinion in Ricci v. DeStefano (“A bad test for racial equity,’’ Editorial, June 30) is commendable. The majority’s decision - “that the New Haven Civil Service Board practiced intentional discrimination in overturning a 2003 Fire Department exam’’ - was a break from the sad stranglehold identity politics enjoys in our society.
The City of New Haven bent over backward to design exams that objectively measure candidates’ abilities. It was a slap in the face and a blow to equal protection under the law, then, to deny the highest scorers positions for fear of upsetting minority applicants.
Such race-based programs are out of step in the modern workforce. Organizations succeed only with the best people, skin tone notwithstanding. Those who champion political correctness above quality necessarily reject more competent individuals. They rightfully suffer for it in the long run.
Local governments, universities, and other institutions should seriously consider the Ricci decision. That prejudice still exists today is undeniable. Practices like the one overturned on Monday, however, pervert the problem and offer no sound solution. True equality under the law will only flourish after policy makers wean themselves from such inherently discriminatory tactics.
Emily Nicholson
Alexandria, Va.
THE RULING from the five-member conservative bloc of the Supreme Court in the case of the New Haven firefighters would appear to be a textbook example of something conservatives supposedly abhor: legislating from the bench.
The law under which New Haven administered the test for firefighters to qualify for promotion in no way obligated the city to grant the promotions. The test was a requirement for promotion, not a guarantee of promotion.
The Supreme Court ruling indicated that these white firefighters were denied promotions based on their race, but the fact is that no firefighters were given promotions, including two Hispanics who also passed the test. There was no racial discrimination.
I cannot help but think that it is not a coincidence that the five conservatives struck down a racially charged ruling joined by Sonia Sotomayor in advance of her confirmation hearings. Indeed, this has all the appearances of being a crass political maneuver.
But I guess it’s OK when conservative judges make laws out of thin air for the political gain of their party.
Branden Wolner
Auburn
CONGRATULATIONS TO the US Supreme Court for overturning the lower court decision regarding the promotion exam of the New Haven firefighters. The Globe, as well as the minority of the court, seems to feel that this is an attack on affirmative action, yet nowhere in your June 30 editorial “A bad test for racial equity’’ do you offer examples that would prove that the exam is biased.
The city spent a lot of money to create a fair exam, and just because many of the black firefighters could not pass it does not in itself prove that it was biased.
If the fire department responded to a fire at my house, I certainly would want the best people in charge, and not someone chosen strictly because of race. After all, public safety is not something we should take lightly.
Maybe it’s time the Supreme Court stopped the social engineering of society and leave the lawmaking to the states and Congress. Its job is to interpret the Constitution, not change it.
Not approving Sonia Sotomayor would be a step in the right direction for the future of the court.
Warren Emerson
Middleborough 
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