The State - News from Sept. 27, 1989

Contending that his clients want a “level playing field,” a lawyer representing seven white San Francisco police officers filed a “reverse discrimination” suit to obtain “a colorblind and sex-blind opportunity to advance.” In the Superior Court complaint, attorney Robert E. Gyemant claimed that less-qualified minority officers have been promoted in order to meet “racial quotas” set a decade ago by a court-ordered affirmative action plan. The suit contended that California has violated state civil rights laws forbidding the use of race or sex as a basis in hiring and promotion. City Atty. Louise Renne said the suit is “plowing old ground.” The suit may be the first test case for a landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision that reversed 20 years of affirmative action gains. That decision permitted a legal challenge to a court-ordered affirmative action plan, or consent decree, which previously could not be challenged in court.