On January 13th, a federal judge ruled in favor of a group of black and Hispanic firefighters in the lawsuit they brought against the Fire Department of New York for its discriminatory hiring practices.

Judge Nicholas G. Garaufis ruled that the FDNY's admissions exam violated civil rights laws.

The Center for Constitutional Rights filed the lawsuit with co-counsel from Levy Ratner, P.C. and Scott & Scott, LLP of the Vulcan Society, the fraternal organization of black firefighters within the FDNY.

They won a previous legal victory on July 22, 2009, when it was ruled that the exam was "racially discriminatory." Yesterday's decision went even further by declaring the exam "intentionally discriminatory."

In his decision, Judge Garaufis stated that the city has been excluding blacks and Hispanics from the Fire Department for decades. The judge described this discriminatory practice, established since the 1960s, as a "persistent stain on the Fire Department's record."

"This decision represents an important victory for all of the city's minorities, who were denied employment because of their race, the color of their skin, or national origin," said Richard Levy from his law office in Manhattan.

Levy added that the decision represents "a particular vindication" for the Vulcan Society, which has been fighting for equality for more than 40 years. "Since it was founded, the Fire Department has been a virtual 'whites only club' and nobody in the municipal government has confronted that issue. Now they will have to," he said.

John Coombs, president of the Vulcan Society, said that the FDNY's discriminatory policies threaten the city's ability to safely respond to emergencies and indicated that "the same thing is happening in other agencies, although not to the same extent."

Until October 2007, only 3.4 percent of the FDNY's members were black and only 6.7 percent were Hispanic, while the city's population of these races combined exceeded 50 percent. New York has the least diverse fire department among the country's most prominent cities. According to official statistics, 57 percent of firefighters in Los Angeles are people of color; in Philadelphia that number is 51 percent, and in Boston, 40 percent of firefighters are non-white.

Georgia Pestana, a lawyer for the city's Law Department, expressed her disagreement with Judge Garaufis's decision. "There simply isn't any evidence that the city intended to discriminate against black candidates," she said.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg commented that the department's candidates "graduated from the public school system…they do very well on the exam." He added that he was "very disappointed" with the judge's decision and that the judge "was mistaken with regard to the law."