WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court served notice Friday it may make a far-reaching change in civil rights law this year and knock down a pair of long-standing rules that give special protections to minorities in the workplace and in the voting booth.
The justices, after meeting privately, announced they had voted to hear two cases that concern the lingering role of race in American life. The cases could put the court on a collision course with the incoming Obama administration.
One of them arose when a Connecticut city, seeking to maintain diversity in its fire department, scrapped a civil-service test after it became clear the white firefighters had the best scores. This would have meant nearly all the promotions would have gone to whites, not blacks.
The white firefighters sued and said they had been victims of "race politics" in the New Haven city government. They urged the justices to rule that the Constitution and federal civil rights law require employers to use a "race neutral selection process."
In ruling against the white applicants, lower-court judges said employers had a duty to avoid tests or standards that would leave minorities at a disadvantage.
"We are not unsympathetic to the plaintiffs' expression of frustration," the U.S. appeals court said last year when it ruled against the white firefighters. The judges noted that Frank Ricci, the lead plaintiff, is dyslexic and worked long hours to score well on the civil-service exam that was later discarded. But the appeals court ruled that the city was "simply trying to fulfill its obligations under [the Civil Rights Act] when confronted with test results that had a disproportionate racial impact."
At the Supreme Court, Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. has spoken out against "racial balancing" as a legal policy and said civil rights laws call for a strict equal-treatment rule without regard to race.
Two years ago, Roberts spoke for a 5-4 majority that struck down voluntary integration policies in public schools because they relied on racial balancing.
The court said it would hear the case of the New Haven firefighters in April. It could give the Roberts court a chance to rule that civil rights laws require employers to follow an equal-treatment rule in hiring and promotions. Such a ruling could affect private employers and public agencies nationwide, and it could make it harder for minorities to obtain jobs or promotions.
