Hayworth

In 1975, a group of black firefighters brought suit against various officials of the City of Oakland (City) seeking relief for what they claimed were racially discriminatory practices by the City’s fire department in hiring and promotion. The trial court, finding in favor of plaintiffs on their claim of past racial discrimination, issued a writ of mandate on December 9, 1975, ordering, among other things, that respondents “[f]or the next five (5) years, promote at least one racial minority for each five Caucasian persons promoted to the same classification.”

On appeal, the trial court’s judgment was reversed. (Hull v. Cason (1981) 114 Cal.App.3d 344 [ 171 Cal.Rptr. 14 ].) The “quota” provisions of the judgment were found to “unlawfully discriminate against Caucasian persons on account of their race,” in contravention of the Fourteenth Amendment and the Civil Rights Act of 1964. (Id., at p. 370.) The basis of that holding was that “there was neither evidence, nor contention, that any of the named plaintiffs, or of the class of minority persons represented by them, was a victim of the fire department’s earlier discrimination.” (Id., at p. 363.) That decision has become…