WASHINGTON—An employer cannot use fear of litigation as the sole reason to rely on race in making promotion decisions, a sharply divided U.S. Supreme Court ruled Monday.
Doing so violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the court ruled in its 5-4 decision in Frank Ricci et al. vs. John DeStefano et al. The case stemmed from a suit brought against the city of New Haven, Conn., by a group of white and Hispanic firefighters who took and passed a promotion examination in 2003.
Writing for the majority, Associate Justice Anthony Kennedy noted that “when the examination results showed that white candidates had outperformed minority candidates, the mayor and other local politicians opened a public debate that turned rancorous. Some firefighters argued the tests should be discarded because the results showed the tests to be discriminatory. They threatened a discrimination lawsuit if the city made promotions based on the tests. Other firefighters said the exams were neutral and fair. And they, in turn, threatened a discrimination lawsuit if the city, relying on the statistical racial disparity, ignored the test results and denied promotions to the candidates who had performed well. In the end, the city took the side of those who protested the test results. It threw out the examinations.”
Both a district court and a three-judge panel of the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals earlier held for New Haven. One of the appeals court judges was Sonia Sotomayor, who President Barack Obama nominated recently to fill a Supreme Court vacancy.
The high court overruled the appeals court.
“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 Kennedy wrote. “The city’s discarding the test results was impermissible under Title VII.” Four other members of the Supreme Court, including Chief Justice John Roberts, joined the opinion.
But Associate Justice Ruth Ginsburg filed a dissent that drew the support of three of her colleagues.
“This case presents an unfortunate situation, one New Haven might well have avoided had it utilized a better selection process in the first place. But what this case does not present is race-based discrimination in violation of Title VII,” wrote Justice Ginsburg.
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