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New Haven city officials violated Title VII by refusing to certify results of a test used to give firefighters promotions after only two minority members passed, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled.

City officials said they threw out the test results after all but two minority firefighters failed to qualify for a promotion under the test.

That result, they said, led them to believe the test was racially flawed and could run afoul of Title VII in creating a disparate impact.

The one minority firefighter and a number of white firefighters whose results did qualify for a promotion sued the city and city officials, claiming they were discriminated against on the basis of race in violation of Title VII and the Equal Protection Clause.

Both parties filed motions for summary judgment.

The trial court granted the defendants’ motion, reasoning that the city officials had a legitimate concern that the test results could lead to discriminatory outcomes and that the plaintiffs were not treated differently than any other employee because all the test results were dismissed.

The 2nd Circuit affirmed in an unsigned per curiam ruling.  The Supreme Court agreed to hear the case.

In a 5-4 opinion written by Justice Anthony Kennedy, the Court first noted that the city started out on the right track by giving promotions based on an objective, racially neutral test.

“The problem, of course, is that after the tests were completed, the raw racial results became the predominant rationale for the city’s refusal to certify the results,” Kennedy wrote. “Confronted with arguments both for and against certifying the test results – and threats of a lawsuit either way – the city was required to make a difficult inquiry. But its hearings produced no strong evidence of a disparate-impact violation, and the city was not entitled to disregard the tests based solely on the racial disparity in the results.”

Because a Title VII violation occurred, the Court declined to take up the Equal Protection question.

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg wrote a dissent, which was joined by Justices John Paul Stevens, David Souter and Stephen Breyer.

U.S. Supreme Court. Ricci v. DeStefano, No. 07-1428. June 29, 2009. Lawyers USA No. 993-922. Click here to read the full text of this opinion.

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