The Ricci case is unlikely to have an impact on Houston's Fire Department:
As with many U.S. Supreme Court rulings, the one issued last week in a reverse discrimination case brought by a group of Connecticut firefighters produced a slew of headlines but little clarity.
At first it seemed that a major victory had been achieved by the white employees of the New Haven Fire Department. The high court said it was wrong for their performances on a promotion test to be tossed out by city officials who were concerned that the test wasn’t fair, because none of their African-American firefighters were eligible for promotions after taking it.
Conservatives embraced the ruling. Liberals decried it. But lawyers who specialize in employment law are far from convinced there will be major impact anywhere. That includes the city of Houston, which is being sued by a handful of black firefighters who are complaining about the same sort of test.
“What the court did not like was that the city had set the rules and then, in the court’s view, changed them willy-nilly,” said longtime Houston employment attorney Joe Ahmad. “We don’t know what it really means.
No clarity, no impact. The Supreme Court makes a decision, but allows ways around it. Without separate powers of enforcement, the court's rulings have no impact other than perhaps a symbolic one. There was a similar story after Brown v. Board.
