A federal judge has ordered the Boston Fire Department to hire four white men who successfully challenged the department's affirmative action policy and award them back pay and the seniority they would have earned had they not been passed over for lower-scoring minorities three years ago.

For the first time since the affirmative action plan was put in place 30 years ago, the city will be forced to compensate white applicants who say the hiring policy violated their civil rights.

"I think hopefully we're just going back to normal, the way it was meant to be, so that now they are just hiring the best person, regardless of race or color," said attorney Harold Lichten, who represents the four men who challenged the hiring plan in court along with a fifth white man who was recently hired by the Fire Department after earning a perfect score on the civil service exam...

...Attorney Toni Wolfman, who represents the NAACP, which brought the 1972 suit that triggered the affirmative action policy, disagreed with Lichten's statement that the court rulings will lead to a more "normal" hiring practice.

"If a return to normal means a return to the way in which the Boston Fire Department conducted its hiring prior to the mid 1970s, it will be a disaster for any applicants of color in the city," said Wolfman, adding that there's not an effective check on the discretion used by those doing the hiring...