Ricci v. DeStefano
[Guest post by DRJ]
Powerline posts on a New Haven CT case, Ricci v. DeStefano, that has been granted review by the U.S. Supreme Court:
The Supreme Court has decided to review the Second Circuit’s decision in Ricci v. DeStefano. In that case, New Haven firefighters — one Hispanic and more than a dozen whites — sued the city after they were denied promotion because the city disregarded the results of its own test for determining who would be promoted. The city threw out the test results because not enough black firefighters scored high enough to earn a promotion. It did so even though the test was designed by experts to eliminate the possibility of racial bias.
The link details the unusual history of the case in the trial court and on appeal in the Second Circuit.
This may be the first big case during the Obama Administration that will tackle the issue of racial preferences. It will be interesting to see how the Obama DOJ responds.
— DRJ
With libs, race is everything, so I have no doubt Obama’s DOJ will push the race thing, despite the level of permatan the soon-to-be current prez has.
Race means everything to the all-inclusive liberals but remains irrelevant to the hateful, exclusive conservatives.
John Hitchcock (fb941d) — 1/10/2009 @ 2:21 pmMy own writings, which I shamelessly promote, predate this Powerline report.
John Hitchcock (fb941d) — 1/10/2009 @ 2:29 pmMy son is a firefighter. About ten years ago, the city of Long Beach held a test for applicants. 5000 applicants showed up. Joe was standing in this enormous line when he heard two women behind him talking about how the city had called them to be sure they would not forget to show up. The 4998 others (excluding any others who had gotten calls) had not needed the reminder. Anyway, they took the test and Joe scored in the group that would be the first to be hired.
Then, he heard from a friend of his, who is Hispanic, that he had found out about a prep course the Black Firefighters Association had held for “minority” applicants. The Hispanic kid attended, figuring he was “minority” and was willing to take any help he got. During the “practice” session, the Hispanic kid realized that what they had was the real test, not an old practice test.
About the time he realized this, one of the BFA guys came over to him and asked him what he was doing there. In spite of his argument that he was also a minority, he was kicked out. He decided to go to the city and complain. Ultimately, the test was thrown out and everybody had to take another test. That was on a day that Joe couldn’t get off so his high ranking didn’t do him any good.
And so it goes.
Mike K (ee3203) — 1/10/2009 @ 2:51 pmMaybe the Progressives should start agitating for hiring diversity up and down the IQ scale instead of the melanin content scale. They would apparently achieve their desired outcomes much easier that way.
j curtis (ec7f68) — 1/10/2009 @ 3:06 pmDr. K., the story you tell is not rare by any means. “By hook or by crook” seems to be the watchphrase, to make the politically motivated result occur—regardless of the individuals and their merits who are involved.
Eric Blair (3e2520) — 1/10/2009 @ 3:28 pmI have an idea: race-based “targets” (since we cannot say “quota”) for the NBA!
Eric Blair (3e2520) — 1/10/2009 @ 3:29 pmWhy shouldn’t it run the other way in other fields where people are under-represented? We know if brains were the criteria that as a group Asians would excel and also those Joooooooos. Ok, so if blacks are not all that bright relativly as a group and honkeys aren’t so great in some sports, why not even the playing field for the white man also?
And of course we had physical lowered in some cases for firefighters to allow more women to work in the field.
Can’t find where it was considered, but as I recall one Mass. University some years back was talking about hiring professors based on being homosexuals because gays are always discriminated against. My question then was just how does one prove that they are gay for admissions or hiring purposes. Do you perform same sex in front of a panel or do the registrar or what? I’d be happy to say I’m a pre-op female transgender lesbian if it supplies me with a lucrative job. Libtards are cluess assclowns from what I can fathom.
aoibhneas (0c6cfc) — 1/10/2009 @ 3:30 pmJohn Hitchcock (comment #1, 2:21 pm), keep in mind that Obama is crafty and singularly focused on his own political advancement. He may very well decide that he has the black vote locked up but that the Hispanic vote is wobbly, so this could be a great opportunity for him to pander to Hispanics and firm up their support. If he is as smart and crafty as I think, he will figure out a way to help the Hispanic firefighter without doing jack for the whites.
Of course, going by his past stances on controversial issues, he may just vote “present” on the matter.
JVW (bff0a4) — 1/10/2009 @ 4:38 pmThis game’s already over, man. You white ‘color blind’ guys just keep on bitching about affirmative action etc. While your doing that , 94% of blacks and 67% of Mex .. I mean ‘Latinos’ are voting for Obama, and 65% or so of Asians. Or if your in the software field, try getting a job with Infosys, a company that specializes in replacing American workers with ‘cuzzes’ back home in Bangalore. Seriously, its time to cut the colorblind crap, the bitching about affirmative action, and moblize as white folks, EuroAmericans, whatever you want to call us.
horace (a807a4) — 1/10/2009 @ 4:46 pmJVW:
During the campaign, Obama implied support for socioeconomic and diversity factors in college admissions rather than a race-based system. However, the way socioeconomic factors are defined, they typically benefit minorities while allowing the supporters to claim the decisions are not based on race. The Obama Administration may support something similar in this case.
DRJ (345e40) — 1/10/2009 @ 5:31 pmTrust me, it won’t be very interesting.
Attila (Pillage Idiot) (7e2b79) — 1/10/2009 @ 5:35 pmGood point DRJ. But if I understand this correctly, all of the firefighters involved are currently on the same level, so it would stand to follow that they should all be at similar pay grades. Wouldn’t that make them all essentially from the same socioeconomic group, or would the law allow the city to consider their upbringing? Wouldn’t it be ironic if some or all of the white firefighters came from a background just as economically disadvantaged as the Hispanic firefighter?
JVW (bff0a4) — 1/10/2009 @ 5:38 pmComment by horace — 1/10/2009 @ 4:46 pm
During this time of economic slowdown, you might avail yourself of the local community college and a course in English Composition, so that you might have a better mastery of compound words.
AD (4de33d) — 1/10/2009 @ 5:53 pm#3 Mike K.:
Mike, that is serious f*cked up.
#9:
Without any hint of humor, I am going to call you a racist and suggest you take your racist crap back to the Aryan Nation blog you came from.
EW1(SG) (e27928) — 1/10/2009 @ 5:58 pmCome now, everyone knows jobs in Big City Gov.t and the Fed are reserved for African Americans first and foremost. Rest, get in line beeyotch.
Without Gov.t jobs and Judiciary intervention the unemployment rate would be like 50% in the African American Community.
Da'Shiznit (dc4a50) — 1/10/2009 @ 6:13 pmI wish people who liked quotas would be forced to take a “Quota MD” as their Primary Care Physician
Da'Shiznit (dc4a50) — 1/10/2009 @ 6:16 pmAnd the people insisting on that level of “diversity” will never, ever need to do so. Just the politicians put their kids in private school, but deny vouchers to taxpayers.
Eric Blair (3e2520) — 1/10/2009 @ 6:18 pmGovt is very inclusionary….
AD (4de33d) — 1/10/2009 @ 6:25 pmThey include minorities in civil service positions;
and old white guys in taxpayer positions.
They had a segment of this on the Armstrong and Getty show not too long ago. One guy called in and his anecdote was that when he applied for Pell Grants for college, he was poor enough, but his counselor told him he’d never get it because he wasn’t black. And sure enough he didn’t. But when it came time to apply again in his sophomore year, (his financial circumstances had not changed) he said what the hell and checked the ‘black’ box for race. Of course, he received the maximum allowable Pell Grant.
A lawyer called in to point out that the United States is not the South Africa of several years ago and we do not have a Bureau of Race that examines people physically according to a color chart and assigns people their race to be put on forms. It’s all self-selected and there is no mechanism for determining the truth or falsity of such a statement.
So it’s really only your personal moral structure and desire to avoid the trouble associated with the ‘penalty of perjury’ statement on a government form to not check the ‘black’ box at your leisure. If physically challenged, you can say that your grandmother told you when you were young that her grandmother was one-eighth black, and by the ‘one-drop’ rule that makes you black too.
And if they disagree, they can take it up with the Bureau of Race.
luagha (ff416e) — 1/10/2009 @ 7:42 pmJVW,
They might all have the same backgrounds but I think it’s more likely the Hispanic and black firefighters were raised in different neighborhoods than the white firefighters. I don’t know about employment law cases but in college admissions, that’s a basis to argue the applicant has been disadvantaged.
DRJ (345e40) — 1/10/2009 @ 8:29 pmIt will be interesting to see how the Obama DOJ responds.
The Affirmative-Action President votes, uh, . . . now let me repeat what I’ve, uhm, already said about that. . . .
RickZ (472435) — 1/10/2009 @ 9:09 pm“All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.” –the real Eric Blair
Horatio (55069c) — 1/11/2009 @ 6:03 am