Cotter v. City of Boston

TORRUELLA, Circuit Judge.

Plaintiffs-appellants, seven Caucasian officers of the Boston Police Department (“BPD” or the “Department”), 1 allege that their constitutional rights to equal protection were violated when the Department promoted three African-American police officers to sergeant instead of the appellants, who had the same ranking on the list of officers eligible for promotion. 2 The district court found that the race-conscious action of the City was narrowly tailored to the compelling state interests of remedying past discrimination and avoiding litigation, and therefore, passed…