Affirmative Action

In one of the most important affirmative action cases in decades, the Supreme Court ruled on Monday that white firefighters were unfairly denied promotions because of their race. The 5-4 decision in Ricci v. DeStefano reversed an appeals court decision by a panel of appellate judges that included Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor.

In an Opinion Research Corporation/CNN poll conducted over the weekend before the Court issued its decision, people were told that “no black firefighters scored high enough on the test to earn a promotion, so the city decided not to offer promotions to the white firefighters who got the highest scores on the test.” When asked which position came closest to their views, a large majority said that they believed the white firefighters were victims of discrimination.

Source: CNN/Opinion Research Corporation, June 2009.