CIR files Supreme Court brief in New Haven firefighters case

CIR filed an amicus brief before the Supreme Court in a case brought by New Haven firefighters challenging a decision by city officials to jettison a hiring test due to political pressure from individuals and organizations advocating greater hiring of minority firefighters. CIR previously filed an amicus brief urging the Supreme Court and the Second Circuit to review lower court decisions in this case.  At issue are so-called race neutral efforts undertaken for clearly racial motives. In this case, city officials claimed to be interested only in avoiding litigation even though evidence showed they were more specifically concerned to satisfy noisy interest groups trying to boost minority hiring. The case could have effects on facially race neutral efforts in other areas, including college admissions.  CIR filed this latest brief on behalf of itself, the Center for Equal Opportunity and the American Civil Rights Institute.