But, but there are never going to be quotas...

A slap at the Bravest

The judicial keelhauling of New York's Bravest continues apace.
Federal Judge Nicholas Garaufis -- without a shred of evidence that the FDNY had discriminated against minority applicants -- last week imposed strict racial hiring quotas on the department.
For every five new hires, Garaufis ordered, the department must reserve two spots for black applicants and one for Hispanic applicants -- until precisely 293 minority firefighters have been hired.
He also ruled that fully 7,400 minority applicants who took the FDNY entrance exam in 1999 and 2002 could claim monetary damages from the city.
It's a ruling as absurd as it is offensive.
Absurd -- because, despite Garaufis' pinpoint precision in judging exactly the ratios needed to satisfy the purported demands of racial justice, his evidence for actual discrimination doesn't exist.
Indeed, he ruled that merely because the test used in '99 and '02 -- which no one has demonstrated is anything but totally job-related -- didn't produce the desired racial outcome, FDNY brass must have been intentionally biased against minorities.
That's nonsense on stilts: The FDNY didn't become the best metropolitan firefighting force in the world by focusing on anything but whether applicants could do the job.
On the other hand, injecting considerations other than competence into hiring decisions is the first step down a dangerous path.
Besides, few things are more offensive to American notions of fairness and equity than strict racial quotas.
To be sure, there are probably a number of things the FDNY can do to boost the minority presence in its ranks.
But on this ruling, a vigorous appeal -- to the Supreme Court, if necessary -- is more than appropriate.
Basic fairness demands it.