Judge Orders Promotions For Firefighters Who Claimed Discrimination

Nov. 25, 2009— -- Five months after winning a landmark ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court, 14 white and Hispanic firefighters in New Haven, Conn., will soon receive the promotions they were denied on the basis of their race.

Federal Judge Janet Bond Arterton -- the same judge who threw out the firefighters' lawsuit in 2006 -- issued an unambiguous ruling Tuesday, ordering Connecticut officials to promote the men.

"The New Haven Civil Service Board shall certify the results of the 2003 promotional examinations for the positions of Lieutenant and Captain in the New Haven Fire Department, and shall certify the promotional lists for each position derived from these examination results," Arterton's two-page order reads.

A city spokeswoman told ABC News that New Haven intends to promote the firefighters "as soon as practicable." The city's civil service board still has to meet and approve the promotions.

"To see these heroic men finally receive the status and the badges that belong to them will be a very meaningful moment," Karen Torre, the firefighters' attorney, told ABC News, "and a fitting capstone to a Supreme Court ruling that we hope will prevent others from having to endure what they did to get them."

Judge Arterton's ruling brings to a close five years of litigation and recent legal wrangling to prevent the promotions from taking place. It also closely follows the Supreme Court's instructions.

In June, the court ruled 5-4 that New Haven violated a landmark civil rights law when the city threw out the results of a promotions exam after it was determined that none of the black firefighters who took the test scored well enough to be promoted.

Justice Anthony Kennedy, writing for the majority, said New Haven had violated the landmark Title VII Civil Rights Act of 1991. The city had no good reason to throw out the test results, he said, even if it was threatened by lawsuits by the black firefighters. Its decision to do so, he wrote, amounted to a "de facto quota system," where it was making decisions based on "raw racial statistics."

"We conclude that race-based action like the City's in this case is impermissible under Title VII unless the employer can demonstrate a strong basis in evidence that, had it not take the action, it would have been liable under the disparate-impact statute," Kennedy wrote. "In light of our ruling under the statutes, we need not reach the question whether respondents' actions may have violated the equal protection clause."

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg read an impassioned dissent from the bench, in which she chastised the court for a decision that she said will do "untold" damage to civil rights laws.

"This case presents an unfortunate situation, one New Haven might well have avoided had it used a better selection process in the first place," she wrote. "But what this case does not present is race-based discrimination in violation of Title VII. Congress endeavored to promote equal opportunity in fact, and not simply in form. The damage today's decision does to that objective is untold."

Six firefighters are set to be promoted to captain and eight to lieutenant. No date has been set for the ceremony.