News In Brief

U.S. appeals court scuttles minority promotion plan

In a narrow legal victory for the Reagan administration, a federal appeals court ruled Monday that a promotion plan for New Orleans police based on racial quotas was neither fair nor necessary.

The quota system had called for the department to promote one black officer for every white officer promoted until blacks made up half of the officers at each rank level.

All 13 judges of the Fifth US Circuit Court of Appeals here were involved in the decision. They split 7 to 6 in upholding a US district judge's original ruling that promotion quotas are not needed.