In a editorial in today’s New York Times, the editorial board of the nations (alleged) “paper of record” states that the US Supreme Court struck a blow to workplace diversity on Monday when they overturned a descion against the City of New Haven, Conn.  The NYTimes believes that because when firefighters in New Haven took a test for promotion and the percentage of blacks and Hispanics who failed was higher then that of white firefighters, that the test itself was illegal.  The City threw the test out because of the failures of the blacks and Hispanics and disregarded the high scores of the white firefighters.  The City says they threw out the test because they were afraid of being sued by the failing minorities.  However, they were in fact sued by the whites who passed their test for advancement but were denied their promotions due to the failures of their colleagues.

The NYTimes agreed with Sonia Sotomayor, the 2nd Circuit Appeals Court and the 4 dissenters on the Supreme Court by saying that the actions to throw out the test due to fear of a lawsuit from minorities was justified and legal.  Thankfully a majority of the Supreme Court disagreed.  By throwing out the test that judged the competence of firefighters to receive a promotion, the City of New Haven subscribed to reverse discrimination.  They believed that rather than rewarding those who scored the best and deserved a promotion, they decided that is was better to discriminate against a certain race in an effort to level the playing field.  Race shouldn’t make a difference in regards to the protection of the citizens of New Haven.  Fire is much to dangerous of an enemy to worry about cosmetic differences.  By disenfranchising these white firefighters, the City of New Haven and through them the Sonia Sotomayor and her pals effectively put race above the importance of the welfare of the people.

The decision of Justice-designate Sotomayor and her colleagues further reinforce the policy of discrimination through affirmative action.  Affirmative action does nothing but divide the people of this nation and fights battles after the war has ended.  The Declaration of Independence states that “all men our created equal.”  As a nation, we should not discriminate between the races in an effort to see a rainbow of colored faces at the workplace or in colleges.  It’s unfair to all parties involved.  Why shouldn’t employers and places of higher education have the most qualified applicants be the ones who get the positions, whether they be black, Hispanic, white or anything else.  In the United States of America we should strive for excellence, not settle for under-qualified mediocrity because it may make some people feel better.  As a nation, we are better than that.