Ricci v. DeStefano
| Ricci v. DeStefano | |
|---|---|
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| Argued April 22, 2009 Decided June 29, 2009 |
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| Full case name | Frank Ricci, et al. v. John DeStefano, et al. |
| Docket nos. |
07-1428 08-328 |
| Citations | 557 U.S. 557 (more)
129 S. Ct. 2658
|
| Prior history | Summary judgment for defendants, 554 F.Supp.2d 142 (D. Conn. 2006), aff'd, 264 Fed. Appx. 106 (2d Cir. 2008), summary order withdrawn, aff'd, 530 F.3d 87 (2d Cir. 2008), reh'g en banc denied, 530 F.3d 88(2d Cir. 2008), cert. granted, 555 U.S. ___ (2009). |
| Holding | |
| Before an employer can engage in intentional discrimination for the asserted purpose of avoiding or remedying an unintentional, disparate impact, the employer must have a strong basis in evidence to believe it will be subject to disparate-impact liability if it fails to take the race-conscious, discriminatory action. Because New Haven failed to demonstrate such strong basis in evidence, the City's action in discarding the tests violated Title VII. | |
| Court membership | |
| Case opinions | |
| Majority | Kennedy, joined by Roberts, Scalia, Thomas, Alito |
| Concurrence | Scalia |
| Concurrence | Alito, joined by Scalia, Thomas |
| Dissent | Ginsburg, joined by Stevens, Souter, Breyer |
| Laws applied | |
| Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e et seq. | |
Ricci v. DeStefano, 557 U.S. 557 (2009) is a US labor law case of the United States Supreme Court on unlawful discrimination through disparate impact under the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
Eighteen city firefighters at the New Haven Fire Department, seventeen white and one Hispanic, claimed discrimination under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 after they had passed the test for promotions to management positions and the city declined to promote them. New Haven officials invalidated the test results because none of the black firefighters scored high enough to be considered for the positions. City officials stated that they feared a lawsuit over the test's disproportionate exclusion of certain racial groups from promotion under "disparate impact" head of liability.
The Supreme Court held 5–4 that New Haven's decision to ignore the test results violated Title VII because the city did not have a "strong basis in evidence" that it would have subjected itself to disparate impact liability if it had promoted the white and Hispanic firefighters instead of the black firefighters. Because the plaintiffs won under their Title VII claim, the Court did not consider the plaintiffs' argument that New Haven violated the constitutional right to equal protection.
In late 2005, the New Haven Fire Department had seven openings for Captain and eight openings for Lieutenant. To fill the open positions, it needed to administer civil service examinations. The examinations consisted of two parts: a written examination and an oral examination.
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