PPC Homepage

Ricci Decision a Phyrric Victory

by | 11:43 am, June 29, 2009 | 1 Comment

In its decision in Ricci v. DeStefano, the Supreme Court sided with Firefighters in New Haven who were discriminated against because they were white.

As Justice Kennedy wrote in the majority opinion:

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 taken the action, it would have been liable under the disparate-impact statute.

[Emphasis mine.]

Note that the court’s decision didn’t actually say that the specific practice of discriminating based on race is illegal – it simply said that the way the city of New Haven did it wasn’t the right way in which to do it.

This means that, ultimately, the Court ruled that it’s quite fine for a hiring body to discriminate against one group in favor of another in order to avoid a “disparate-impact” to a minority group. As a consequence, hiring is as much as game of racial politics as ever, rather than a process in which employers seek out the best qualified applicants.

Share
Category: Capitalism
Tags: > > > >

Comments

  1.   CTBC
      June 29th, 2009 @ 12:28 pm

    The majority opinion indeed acted to narrow, not completely eliminate, the “disparate impact” provisions of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. Still, it’s a step in the right direction.

    Also, read Justice Antonin Scalia’s concurring opinion, which more directly addressed the issue of the constitutionality of “disparate impact:”

    JUSTICE SCALIA, concurring.
    I join the Court’s opinion in full, but write separately to observe that its resolution of this dispute merely post-pones the evil day on which the Court will have to confront the question: Whether, or to what extent, are the disparate-impact provisions of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 consistent with the Constitution’s guarantee of equal protection?

    http://www.supremecourtus.gov/opinions/08pdf/07-1428.pdf

Praise for PPC From Our Lefty "Fan"

  • "Zany-ass bombast-entertainment...Hackneyed weirdo communist pseudo-nostalgia" --Alan Franklin, ProgressNow

Featured Posts




  • When a young girl gets close to the truth about a long-forgotten mystery, a harmless adventure becomes a threat to the future of the independent commercial settlements on Mars.

  • Advertise Here!

    info-at-peoplespresscollective-dot-org

  • Categories

  • Archives

  • Meta




  • Buy a Tea Party Poster!