The US Supreme Court ruled on Monday that White firefighters in New Haven suffered unfair discrimination because of their race when the city scrapped the results of a promotional exam. “The city’s action in discarding the tests violated Title VII,” the court held in a 5-to-4 decision, referring to a section of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Monday’s decision in Ricci vs DeStefano was one of the most closely watched discrimination cases in years. While the case concerned public employees, the ruling is likely to affect private employers as well.

The case was rooted in tests given in 2003 for promotion to lieutenant and captain. The exams yielded no Black firefighters eligible for advancement, prompting the city to throw out the results. That move triggered a lawsuit by 18 White firefighters, one of them Hispanic.

The ruling reverses a federal district court and the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, which had found in favour of the city, and sends the case back to lower courts for further action. (Judge Sonia Sotomayor, Obama’s nominee for the SC, had ruled in the city’s favor as a Second Circuit judge.) The ruling on Monday acknowledged that the city faced a “damned if you do, damned if you don’t” situation.