June 29, 2009
Victory For New Haven Firefighters, Supreme Court Sides!
"WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court ruled Monday that white firefighters in New Haven, Conn., were unfairly denied promotions because of their race, reversing a decision that high court nominee Sonia Sotomayor endorsed as an appeals court judge.
New Haven was wrong to scrap a promotion exam because no African-Americans and only two Hispanic firefighters were likely to be made lieutenants or captains based on the results, the court said Monday in a 5-4 decision. The city said that it had acted to avoid a lawsuit from minorities." Washington Post/AP
This case had to do with a promotional exam, not a firefighter test. To me it is simple, this test forms a list of future leaders in the department. Fire officers are responsible for the safety of line personnel and overall public safety. I will not accept that this test or any test at this level is designed to keep particular ethnic groups off the list.
At the promotional level the guys and gals that make the list are the ones that studied the material the hardest. Cristi from The Kitchen Table pointed to this summary of the ruling today and the subject in general.
More, including discussion on Hot Air
New Haven was wrong to scrap a promotion exam because no African-Americans and only two Hispanic firefighters were likely to be made lieutenants or captains based on the results, the court said Monday in a 5-4 decision. The city said that it had acted to avoid a lawsuit from minorities." Washington Post/AP
This case had to do with a promotional exam, not a firefighter test. To me it is simple, this test forms a list of future leaders in the department. Fire officers are responsible for the safety of line personnel and overall public safety. I will not accept that this test or any test at this level is designed to keep particular ethnic groups off the list.
At the promotional level the guys and gals that make the list are the ones that studied the material the hardest. Cristi from The Kitchen Table pointed to this summary of the ruling today and the subject in general.
More, including discussion on Hot Air
Labels: Affirmative Action, firefighter jobs, Firefighter tests
