This lawsuit is asserting that the test New Haven used to evaluate promotion candidates was racist, but I thought the city had already acknowledged that. The Supreme Court decision did not dispute that, but only decided that the test results for this round of promotions must be honored and only future use of the test should be banned.

Interesting detail about the disparity in the oral vs. written portions of the test. I hadn't remembered that.

The oral/written aspect of the test didn't get near enough play in the press originally, I don't know why. I remember it, and remember wondering why the hell it wasn't more of a focus in news stories about the case at the time.

This case is messed up seven ways to Sunday.

You are both wrong; the Court in Ricci noted that nobody had any evidence, aside from the results of the test, that the test was in any way racially biased.

Sycamancy:

You are both wrong; the Court in Ricci noted that nobody had any evidence, aside from the results of the test, that the test was in any way racially biased.

Actually, you are wrong.

If I recall correctly, after the results of the test came in, the city conducted some preliminary inquiries that yielded some expert testimony that the test was discriminatory, but those were never completed, and the only evidence that the city formally introduced in court was the results of the test.

The oral vs. written dispute is a bit ironic. It seems to me that oral exams would have been disfavored in the earlier years of the civil rights movement, because it's harder to conduct those tests in a race-blind fashion. The test results can be skewed, even unconsciously, if the tester knows (or even thinks he or she knows) what race the applicant is, and I have to think there was a time when there was serious concern that that bias would have run squarely against black applicants. I wonder what kinds of protections are built into those tests nowadays.

I find that interesting too. I presume that 40/60 split which is specified in the collective bargaining agreement between the city and the union was original created to check nepotism and political appointments. It would be easier for connected people to use the oral portion to help their favored candidate. With the written portion it is more difficult because answers in that situation are either right or wrong, there is no subjectivity involved.

I think that the reason why some would want to see more emphasis on the oral portion is because its subjectivity allows the city to help increase diversity without explicit quotas or ignoring racially problematic written test results.

Tom_Tildrum:

The oral vs. written dispute is a bit ironic. It seems to me that oral exams would have been disfavored in the earlier years of the civil rights movement, because it's harder to conduct those tests in a race-blind fashion. The test results can be skewed, even unconsciously, if the tester knows (or even thinks he or she knows) what race the applicant is, and I have to think there was a time when there was serious concern that that bias would have run squarely against black applicants. I wonder what kinds of protections are built into those tests nowadays.

I've actually wondered the same thing. You would think there would be a push for objective questions or at least subjective questions answered in a blind manner. Oral answers have much more potential for personal bias to be introduced.

Does anyone know where we could find a list of the supposedly racially biased questions? I'd be very interested to see what they're like.

HOW is he "wrong?" That's always a nice extra feature to include in a denial, I've found...

Actually, you are wrong.

Would you care to quote the relevant part of the opinion?

The issue should have been from the outset about who is the best qualified individual to lead a fire station. The sort of written test administered by New Haven is not in use in just about all the fire depts in the country. The oral exam and interview that probed in depth the individual's actual knowldege and how he/she would actually think and act in a real situations is the sort used in other fire depts.