Court Decided it’s OK To Not Hire Cops With High IQs

Court Decided it’s OK to Not Hire Cops with High IQs (Liberty Blitzkrieg, May 1, 2013):

I heard about this case a while ago, but never got around to posting it previously.  Amazingly, back in September 2000 the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York decided it is lawful for the New London, Connecticut Police Department to not hire Robert Jordan on the basis that he is too intelligent for the job. Unfortunately, I’m not making this up.  While this is more than a decade old, I think everyone should be aware of it.

From ABC News:

A man whose bid to become a police officer was rejected after he scored too high on an intelligence test has lost an appeal in his federal lawsuit against the city.

“This kind of puts an official face on discrimination in America against people of a certain class,” Jordan said today from his Waterford home. “I maintain you have no more control over your basic intelligence than your eye color or your gender or anything else.”

Jordan, a 49-year-old college graduate, took the exam in 1996 and scored 33 points, the equivalent of an IQ of 125. But New London police interviewed only candidates who scored 20 to 27, on the theory that those who scored too high could get bored with police work and leave soon after undergoing costly training.

Jordan alleged his rejection from the police force was discrimination. He sued the city, saying his civil rights were violated because he was denied equal protection under the law.

But the U.S. District Court found that New London had “shown a rational basis for the policy.” In a ruling dated Aug. 23, the 2nd Circuit agreed. The court said the policy might be unwise but was a rational way to reduce job turnover.

Thirteen years later, how does it make you feel knowing this has been going on?

Full article here.

In Liberty,
Mike

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