Featured Article

New Haven Firefighters battle a blaze on Chapel Street in 2007: Photo by Diane OrsonA reverse discrimination case involving New Haven firefighters may end up before the US Supreme Court.

In 2003, the New Haven Fire Department gave promotional exams for the positions of Captain and Lieutenant.  Although the tests were specifically designed to be race-neutral, based on the results, no blacks, and at most two Hispanics would have been eligible for promotion. New Haven officials feared that if the promotions were granted, non-white candidates would sue the city under Civil Rights laws.  So the test was not certified and no one was promoted.
A group of candidates who’d done well on the test, 17 white and 1 Hispanic sued.    

Hartford lawyer Steven Ecker says in many ways, its the opposite of the early days of the Civil Rights movement, when certain US municipalities made a concerted effort to exclude minorities.

"Here you have a situation where New Haven is, according to the city, doing its darndest to promote minorities and its not working. And the victim in this particular situation ends up being the whites who say, what else are we supposed to do?"

The Supreme Court accepts a fraction of the number cases that want to be heard, but has indicated interest in the New Haven case. A decision is expected in the coming weeks.