COVERITLIVE.COM

11:59

Ruben Navarrette - Hi. Welcome to the chat.

12:01

Ruben Navarrette -

Today's topic is the Supreme Court's decision Monday in Ricci vs DeStefano, where -- in a 5 to 4 decision -- the justices said the New Haven Fire Department acted improperly in tossing out a promotion exam because no African-Americans scored high enough to earn promotions.

12:02

SignOnLiveChatModerator - Ruben, could you give us some background in the case?

12:02

Ruben Navarrette - Even as a critic of racial preferences, I challenge the whole concept of reverse discrimination. It's modern fiction.

12:03

Ruben Navarrette - In this case, a group of mostly white firefighters sued the city of New Haven for throwing out a promotion exam.

12:04

Ruben Navarrette - The city, after consulting with lawyers, thought it was going to be sued - as it has successfully five times since 1972 by black firefighters -- because the test had a disparate impact on black test-takers.

12:04

Ruben Navarrette -

The conservatives on the court, having lectured us about the evils of "judicial activism," indulged in it here.

12:05

Ruben Navarrette - The test was about management, and not all management skills can be measured in a pen and paper test.

12:06

Ruben Navarrette -

Judging from my mail, passions run high out there on affirmative action and plenty of people think that whites are being systematically discriminated against. Not me.

12:07

SignOnLiveChatModerator -

Navarrette's column about this subject is posted below for those interested in reading it

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