Posted on 10/20/2010 5:35:01 AM PDT by reaganaut1
In blunt, scolding language, a federal judge on Tuesday criticized the city’s conduct during legal negotiations aimed at diversifying the Fire Department, accusing the Bloomberg administration of shirking its responsibility for redressing discrimination and of exaggerating claims about threats to public safety during the dispute.
The judge, Nicholas G. Garaufis, of Federal District Court in Brooklyn, also raised the possibility of imposing sanctions on New York City. In a 20-page decision, the judge, who had previously found that the city administered tests that discriminated against black and Hispanic firefighter candidates, ordered the city not to hire new firefighters.
That permanent ban replaced a temporary injunction that was set to expire at the end of the month. It would be lifted, the judge wrote, if the city agreed to a hiring method proposed by the court.
...
The current debate stems from a lawsuit against the city brought by the Justice Department in 2007, acting on behalf of the Vulcan Society, a group of black firefighters. In 2009, Judge Garaufis ruled that two entrance exams were discriminatory and ordered the city to give 300 minority applicants priority hiring status and retroactive seniority, and to financially compensate thousands more who had taken the test.
City lawyers objected to the judge’s appointment of Robert M. Morgenthau, the former Manhattan district attorney, as a special master to oversee the discrimination lawsuit. Mr. Morgenthau withdrew, and Mary Jo White, a former United States attorney for the Southern District of New York, was appointed instead.
In September, the city rejected five hiring methods proposed by the judge. Michael A. Cardozo, the city’s corporation counsel, said the proposals involved quotas that were “both illegal and unwise public policy.”
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Every slave society has to have a "Special Master Overseer"............
I agree with you, but how do you prove the test is not biased, especially when the presupposition is that all should do equally well?
So, if I do poorly on a test because I did not study or I am simply not smart enough, do I get some money too?
Oh, wait. I am white, so the answer is no.
Only in the Western world do we reward failure. This judge is part of the problem; in a tiny way he has helped to unravel the fabric of America and destroy the very thing that makes us great. He belongs in prison, IMO, or worse.
One of the many myths about affirmative action is that there were all these qualified minorities being denied jobs and college admissions because of their race. We’ve been looking for these people for 30 years and still cant find them. That’s why admissions and hiring standards had to be lowered.
clintoon appointment.
The way it is now, let the place burn to the ground.
“Mary Jo White”, does that name ring a bell?
My advice to NYC is “Just Say NO” .
thank the judge for sharing his opinion and then continue to use the test and continue to hire firefighters.
(NYC has more police officers than the US has Marines)
It may mean that "white" applicants (since firemen are mostly Irish and Italian) are more likely to have gone to NYC Catholic schools, and hence more likely to know how to read, write, and take tests than black applicants, more of whom went to New York's (ahem) public schools.
This case should go to the Supremes, if the City has any cojones at all. The FDNY would win in a slam-dunk, even with the Court's two new apprentice morons.
Simple you are qualified or you are not race has nothing to do with this,do not pass the test then take a hike.
I believe that this judge said in the past that blacks
and hispanics don’t do as well as whites on written tests.
Therefore,they should use other criteria in selecting
minorities.
How about they hire the best firefighters?
Oh wait, that would be good for NYC
Politicians, in order to advance a leftist agenda, deliberately write laws so they must be interpreted instead of applied. They also install leftist judges to perform these interpretations and thus advance their leftist agendas while denying culpability.
Part of our Conservative take back of our country must be the removal of these judges and the writing of short, concise, laws. The new Conservative politicians must show the backbone required to impeach them like our founding fathers allowed for.
The judiciary was meant to be the weakest part of the three legs and has been deliberately allowed by liberal politicians to become the most powerful.
This must end NOW!
Gee, guess that great bastion of liberalism and progressives just decided to came up with a test that would exclude Blacks and Hispanics. Got to watch those Libs, never know what they will try next!
Beware also of “Project 10”.
This is the agenda where the homos are attempting to saturate the society with the idea that they make up 10% of the population,
with the goal of instituting “queer quotas” on businesses and hiring.
You're right. And, the people writing the test cannot "see" those who will take the test. The test simply measure (to some degree) intellect and aptitude. If it happens that more Hispanics and blacks score lower in the area of intellect and aptitude, then so be it.
We are getting (have gotten) ourselves into a very difficult situation with this business of fairness. The focus needs to be on intellect and the ability to perform and not on skin color or ethnicity.
This is one thing that dissappoints me. affirmative action isn’t even on the table. The damage is not just unqualified people in positions they don’t deserve (like the president), it is the assault on any objective standard to measure anything. When there are no standards, people in power can hand out jobs like goodies to reward and punish .
Maybe, New York should respond in the same way as private business. The fire department should require a college degree to do fire fighting. The education-industrial complex would **love** this!
I’m betting that SAME judge would want the BEST firefighters extinguishing the blaze if HIS house was on fire.
The rest of us have to deal with a politically correct selection of firefighters regardless if they can preform their duties.
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