White men win a "discrimination" case.
Some think this will set a precedent. Others think this type of thing will slowly fade out of America as fewer an fewer cases like those will ever be brought up.
WASHINGTON – The Supreme Court declared Monday that white firefighters in Connecticut were unfairly denied promotion because of their race, ruling against minorities in a major reverse discrimination case that could affect bosses and workers nationwide. The justices threw out a decision that high court nominee Sonia Sotomayor had endorsed as an appeals court judge.In its last session until September, the court's conservative majority prevailed in a 5-4 ruling that faulted New Haven and the courts that had upheld the city's discarding of results of an exam in which no African-Americans scored high enough to be promoted to lieutenant or captain.
The city said it acted to avoid a lawsuit from minorities, but Justice Anthony Kennedy said in his majority opinion that New Haven's action amounted to discrimination based on race against the white firefighters who were likely to be promoted.
"No individual should face workplace discrimination based on race," Kennedy said.
The ruling restricts, but does not eliminate employers' ability to take diversity into account in employment decisions. But the ruling could make it harder for minorities to prove discrimination based solely on lopsided racial hiring or promotions.
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Labor and employment lawyers suggested that companies that act to encourage and preserve racial, gender and age diversity would need to be very careful to avoid reverse discrimination lawsuits.
For example, said employment lawyer Mark Dichter, an employer might be sued under Monday's ruling for scrapping an unannounced round of layoffs because women, racial minorities or older workers would be disproportionately affected and substituting a different analysis that affected other workers.
"If those facts came out, it would certainly support a reverse discrimination claim," said Dichter, chairman of the Morgan, Lewis law firm's labor and employment division in Philadelphia.
In New Haven, Mayor John DeStefano Jr. criticized the court's decision. The court's "interpretation of anti-discrimination law has for some time been showing increasing distance from reasonable and time-tested efforts," he said.
However, lead plaintiff Frank Ricci, speaking from the steps of New Haven's city hall, said the ruling showed that "if you work hard, you can succeed in America."
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Full article here. I suggest you guys read it.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090629/ap_on_go_su_co/us_supreme_court_firefighters_lawsuit
What are your thoughts?
Here are questions that I have:
1. Why is it discrimination to have a test in place that has more people fail from a specific racial demographic when all humans are capable of the same intellectual potential?
2. Why do handicaps need to be given, based on race? Isn't hard work enough? Why do we alter things to "even" the odds to help a specific race?
3. Are not the statistical correlations of race-based failures a function of education which owes it success partially the subculture of the race in America, and the education opportunities via the public school systems which has a race-geographic correlation. (Where you live can be partially correlated to the level of education received.)
Discuss these three points. My hope is to gain enlightenment from my fellow posters. Hopefully, I can increase in understanding of how race "plays" in America.