Ruling a vindication, say firefighters

New Haven (WTNH) - Members of the New Haven 20 said they felt "vindicated" Monday after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled the City of New Haven unfairly denied the firefighters promotions.

"It was worth it, every minute of it," said New Haven Firefighter Lt. Matthew Marcarelli.

The clock started ticking in 2003, when 19 white firefighters and one Hispanic claimed they were discriminated against when they were not promoted after passing an exam. None of the African-American firefighters scored well enough to earn a promotion, so the city threw the results out -- out of fear of a lawsuit from minority candidates. But a lawsuit was filed by who would be known as "The New Haven 20."

"It's phenomenal that everybody stepped forward and took this position, the exams were valid. And, if you work hard, you can succeed in America," said New Haven Firefighter Frank Ricci.

In a 5-4 decision, the High Court ruled New Haven violated a landmark civil rights law by dropping the test results.

Justice Anthony Kennedy said in his majority opinion that, "No individual should face workplace discrimination based on race."

"We always believed the civil rights laws, as they existed, protected these men from such blatant race discrimination," said Attorney Karen Torre.

"I think that this is just proof positive that people should be treated as individuals, and not statistics, and that won out in the Supreme Court today," said Ricci.

Mayor John DeStefano said the promotions, most likely, will be honored, but the philosophical debate of the decision is far from over.

"I think it's continual erosion of civil rights law by the Supreme Court," said Mayor DeStefano.

But the New Haven 20 will counter the foundation for all rights has been strengthened, which will be proven, for them, on the emotional day when they get new badges and new titles.

"If you are down and out, look at the New Haven 20. We took a lot of kicks in the stomach because of this case, and we finally got our vindication," said Lt. Marcarelli.

The Supreme Court still has to issue an order which will head back to district court. So the timetable on when these men will actually get their promotions ,and possibly any back-pay, is still on hold.