Judge rejects Cobb County plan aiming to fix racial bias in fire department
Judge rejects plan to fix racial bias in fire department
A federal judge has rejected a deal struck between the U.S. Department of Justice and Cobb County over alleged discriminatory hiring practices at the fire department. The judge’s rejection of the deal comes as the trump administration has ordered a freeze for the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division.
COBB COUNTY, Ga. - A Georgia judge has rejected a plan by Cobb County aimed at fixing racial bias in its fire department's hiring process.
United States District Court Judge William M Ray II handed down the ruling on Jan. 16, refusing to approve the county and federal government's agreement.
Lawsuit against Cobb County Fire
The backstory:
In May 2024, the U.S. Justice Department filed an action against Cobb County over what officials said was a violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
Cobb County reportedly used credit checks and written exams to screen firefighter candidates from 2016 to 2020. During that time, they received a little more than 4,000 applications and 48.8% of those candidates were Black.
In that period, the county hired 225 white firefighters and 61 Black firefighters.
The agency and the country agreed to a settlement in which the Cobb officials would no longer use these hiring practices and would pay $750,000 in back wages to the affected candidates. Additionally, up to 16 of these candidates will be hired as firefighters and given seniority retroactively.
However, the judge found that the agreement, which allowed Cobb County to not admit any liability, was in itself a violation of Title VII.
Judge William Ray's ruling
What we know:
In his ruling, Ray said that the proposed plan could be argued to be a form of intentional discrimination based on race.
"Only those claimants who are African-American are entitled to seek relief," Ray wrote. "Further, the proposed relief would allow for disparate treatment because it provides for priority hiring of the affected African-American claimants over other applicants, as well as retroactive seniority and possible promotions over other employees who may have been hired before the
African-American claimants."
Because Cobb County continues to deny that race had any impact on the fire department's hiring or selection process, the judge said that there is no "clear showing of ‘strong basis in evidence’ to justify the approval of the relief." If that is the case, the judge said he can't be sure that the agreement just allows Cobb County to "intentionally discriminate in the future for the asserted purpose of remedying an alleged disparate impact."
While Ray acknowledged that he could be convinced that the federal government's claim was legitimate, he denied the agreement until he received additional evidence.
Cobb County reacts to judge's ruling
What they're saying:
FOX 5 reached out to Cobb County about this, and they responded with a statement from the County Attorney’s office:
"In light of the Department of Justice’s recent memo ordering its civil rights division to pause any ongoing litigation and potentially revisiting some settlements obtained during the prior administration, the County is awaiting further communication from the DOJ regarding the status of the case moving forward."
The county is referring to a memo from the DOJ on Wednesday that ordered the Department's Civil Rights Division to freeze all litigation until further notice.
NAACP responds to Cobb County Fire ruling
The other side:
President of the Cobb County NAACP Jeriene Bonner-Willis reacted to the news Thursday. "Very disappointed. Somewhat surprised, but very disappointed," Bonner-Willis said.
Her group has been working on this issue for several years and she says they believed it was already done and over with. "This to me was a great success story some months ago," Bonner-Willis said.
Which is why she’s so disappointed to hear about the rejection of the consent decree, but Bonner-Willis vowed that they won’t give up on the issue. "All is not well in our community, all is not well…we're not going to stop fighting," she said.
Law professor gives perspective on ruling
Dig deeper:
Alicia Hughes, a visiting professor at Emory University’s School of Law, said the county’s denial is one of the main reasons Judge Ray, who was appointed to the court by President Donald Trump in 2018, rejected the consent decree they had agreed upon, because that puts the whole agreement on shaky ground.
"Cobb County has never admitted that that was the impact," said Hughes.
"Because it is holding a position that is antithetical to what is required for the consent decree to be ordered, the judge is saying, ‘I can't possibly do this as a matter of law,’" Hughes added.
Professor Hughes also helped explain some of Judge Ray’s reasoning for the denial based on what he said would essentially be reverse discrimination.
"You cannot resolve something that has a disparate racial impact by creating something that has a disparate racial impact on another group. This consent decree would essentially do that because it provides relief for black folks, it doesn't provide relief for other groups," Hughes said.
Hughes says this move by the Trump administration could call into question many proceedings regarding civil rights. "You have to be concerned about trends and what will be happening around civil rights," Hughes said.

(Cobb County Fire Rescue)
What's next:
With a new leader coming to the U.S. Justice Department under President Donald Trump, the status of the federal government's case remains unknown.
If the case does not move forward, Ray said that he may appoint an expert witness or special advocate to represent Cobb County to examine the settlement.
The Source: Information for this story came from a ruling by United States District Court Judge William M Ray II and previous FOX 5 reporting. FOX 5's Eric Mock spoke with Cobb County NAACP Jeriene Bonner-Willis and Alicia Hughes, a visiting professor at Emory University’s School of Law. He also received a statement from Cobb County government. This article has been updated since originally updated to provide new details.