Ricci V. Destefano Case Summary

On June 29, 2009, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a controversial five to four decision in Ricci v. DeStefano. The case of Ricci vs DeStefano raises the uncomfortable but common question of how far will employers go to favor one race over another? In other words, discrimination was at play in the case, in a scenario that will be unexpected to readers. The case of Frank Ricci vs. John DeStefano was established through an invalid act in the case of firefighters, promoting firefighters to be precise.
The case began in the city of New Haven, Connecticut, New Haven had gone to great lengths to create a test that would give one race edge over the other. The written examination, in November through December of 2003, was to test members of the New Haven firefighters for promotion to captain, supervisor, and lieutenant. The city signed a contract with a
The Constitutional questions presented in the case included; Does 42 U.S.C. Sec. 2000e-2 [Section 703] permit employers to refuse to act on the results of such tests for reasons of race? Does an employer violate 42 U.S.C. Sec. 2000-2 when it rejects the results of such tests because of the race of the successful candidates? Did the City have a lawful justification for its race-based action? Does 42 U.S.C. Sec. 2000e permit federal courts to relieve municipalities from having to comply with local laws that require strict compliance with race-blind merit selection procedures? Were city officials who tried to diversify a civil service department guilty of racial discrimination under the Equal Protection Clause or Title VII when they decide not to utilize written test results which favor one racial class over another, and whether an employer violates 42 U.S.C. § 2000E-2(1), which makes it illegal to adjust test scores or cut-off scores based on race, when he decides not to utilize test results because the successful candidates are all of one