Promotion day arrives for white Conn. firefighters

[The Northerner]

Source: Associated Press

NEW HAVEN, Conn. — White Connecticut firefighters who persuaded the U.S. Supreme Court to side with them over black colleagues are getting badges recognizing the promotions they sought.

Fourteen firefighters who sued the city of New Haven are being promoted Thursday to lieutenant and captain.

They complained to courts when officials looked at 2003 test results, saw that no blacks did well enough to be promoted and threw out the results.

The high court ruled in June that officials violated the white firefighters' civil rights.

Attorneys for the black firefighters say they're happy for their white colleagues but the fight is not over.

Read more: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jjMMNXSw9O0HVpF-_d4qmwucnQpwD9CGB5JO1

[virgogal]

1. The fight is not over? I don't get it.

[Butch350]

2. No wonder. Your a sox fan.

[intheflow]

7. .

:spray: Good one!

[Igel]

3. They lost this case.

Given that the exam was certified and wasn't judged *a priori* biased by whatever criteria such things are judged, the promotions stand. They can't be thrown out just because the exam's results are racially skewed.

I.e., since the test isn't biased, the skew is due to something else.

NYT has a bit more: http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2009/12/10/us/AP-US-Firefighters-Lawsuit.html

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"Dennis Thompson, an attorney for black firefighters who tried unsuccessfully last month to block the plaintiffs' promotions, said Wednesday that his clients congratulate the newly promoted firefighters.

''Nobody is going to say these guys are unqualified,'' Thompson said.

But Thompson, who is trying to intervene in federal court in New Haven to challenge the validity of the exams now that they have been certified, said the fight is not over because the black firefighters were not heard. In other cases cities have been required to make more promotions than planned, he said.

''They understand this is a 15-round fight,'' Thompson said of his clients. ''You don't decide who won in Round 3.''

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In other words, his clients thought they were guaranteed a promotion, or at least entitled to one. They didn't get it because they did badly on a test that showed a racial skew. Well, now the test itself is a problem--so get it decertified, go back to the disparate impact argument and, I'm guessing, argue that since blacks did worse than whites it must be racist.

[ManiacJoe]

6. Is there data available that really suggests

that the exam was racially biased? The way that article was written, the article suggests there is not.

[Fire_Medic_Dave]

4. Seems it is certainly over in this case. Lawyers need work too though, so I smell a new appeal.

[mrbarber]

5. Good for the White firefighters. They deserve their promotions.