The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, which in the past approved employment discrimination under a “rational basis” standard, has now reversed itself and, applying “strict scrutiny, has sided with applicants to the Shreveport fire department who claim they were discriminated against because they are white. (HatTip to Mychal Massie)
The city has maintained that the department’s hiring practices are based on a complaint brought by the U.S. Justice Department in 1980 that said the department had discriminated against blacks and women. Up to that point, the department had hired only three black men in its history, according to court records.
Then the 5th Circuit ruled that the department had to fill “at least 50 percent of all vacancies with qualified black applicants” and put qualified women in at least 15 percent of all vacancies. The department was ordered to divide job candidates into two categories, white and black. The most qualified from each received job offers — even if the most qualified candidates were all in one category — so that jobs were equally distributed to both whites and blacks.
Now all applicants will have to be evaluated according to the same standard. How novel.
