What's next for city, New Haven 20

New Haven (WTNH) - The U.S. Supreme Court Monday sided with 20 New Haven firefighters in a reverse discrimination case, but there are questions about whether the ruling will lead to a divided fire department.

The City of New Haven threw out the results of a 2004 promotion exam because no black firefighters scored high enough to get promoted. The city was afraid the black firefighters would sue. Instead it was sued by the white and Hispanic firefighters who did well on the test.

Monday the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the firefighters who called themselves the New Haven 20.

The winning side says it's proof they were right all along. The NAACP sees this as a blow to affirmative action and says this is just simple math -- conservatives control the Supreme Court.

"That's why the case was taken up because it's around 5-4," Jim Rawlings of the NAACP said. "They still have the majority on the Supreme Court so it was big for them."

"I think this is just proof positive individuals and not statistics won at the Supreme Court," firefighter Frank Ricci said.

All those individuals still have to go back to court to figure out who actually will be promoted. New Haven Mayor John DeStefano says the city will look hard at promotion testing.

"I am tempted to recall Justice Souter's comments from argument that the city was damned if they did and damned if they didn't," DeStefano said.

Labor law experts say this case sends mixed messages to employers all over the U.S. After all, the city of New Haven threw out the test results because it was trying to avoid claims of discrimination, and the court now says doing that was discrimination. So employers who want to comply with this new legal precedent might not know exactly how to do that.

The members of the New Haven 20 are still a long way from getting their Lieutenants and Captains badges. The case will head back where it started in New Haven Federal Court. That's where they'll figure out what to do about promotions in the department.