New York City has been denied a stay pending appeal of parts of an order Eastern District Judge Nicholas Garaufis (See Profile) issued to remedy past hiring discrimination at the New York Fire Department. The city’s Law Department had asked Garaufis for a stay while it waits for a decision from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit on its appeal from Garaufis’ finding of disparate treatment of minority applicantsand the sweeping remedies ordered by the judge to cure it in 2011.
Oral arguments in the appeal in United States v. Bloomberg, 11-5113-cv, were heard by a three-judge panel at the circuit in June 2012 (NYLJ, June 27, 2012), with Law Department Senior Counsel Deborah Brenner objecting that Garaufis is “convinced” that the Fire Department houses “a bunch of intentional discriminators” and the judge should be removed from the case. The city sought a stay of all remedial measures save those concerning supervision of the development of its civil service exams for entry-level firefighters.
