Times staff and wire reports

WASHINGTON | The Supreme Court decided Monday that white firefighters in New Haven, Conn., were unfairly denied promotions because of their race, ruling on a lawsuit that bears similarities to a local suit accusing Gary city officials of discriminating against white paramedics.

Monday's ruling could alter employment practices nationwide and make it harder to prove discrimination when there is no evidence it was intentional. The court ruled 5-4 that New Haven officials were wrong to scrap a promotion exam. The exam was thrown out because no African-Americans and only two Hispanic firefighters were likely to be made lieutenants or captains based on the results. The city said that it had acted to avoid a lawsuit from minorities.

Attorney Jerome Taylor of the Gary city law department said Monday he didn't think that ruling would play into the court battle over Gary's hiring practices. The U.S. Department of Justice sued Gary in January, accusing city officials of violating the Civil Rights Act of 1964 by hiring six black applicants for emergency medical technician jobs in October 2006. Several white applicants were ranked higher than some of the black applicants on a city list that was supposed to determine who would be hired, according to the lawsuit.

City lawyers have said the hirings were based on Gary residency, and the black firefighters lived in Gary. Taylor said the hirings were "never a racial thing."

"It had nothing to do with qualifications or whether or not the party was black or white, red or yellow," Taylor said.

Since the disputed hires, the city has changed its residency policy, Taylor said. The city does not consider residency in hiring emergency responders, Taylor said, but the city requires new employees to move into the city within six months.

Justice Department lawyers in the Gary lawsuit could not be reached Monday for comment.

Monday's ruling reverses a decision Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor endorsed as an appeals court judge.The ruling could give her critics fresh ammunition two weeks before her Senate confirmation hearing.

In Monday's ruling, Justice Anthony Kennedy said, "Fear of litigation alone cannot justify an employer's reliance on race to the detriment of individuals who passed the examinations and qualified for promotions." He was joined in the majority by Chief Justice John Roberts and justices Samuel Alito, Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas.