Eyes on the prize.

After studying and scoring high on a career merit test, and then taking the case that bears his name all the way to the Supreme Court -- and winning! ... today in New Haven, Conn., Frank Ricci gets his promotion.

Might not be a Supreme Court swearing-in, but it's no less to the man.

And a white ethnic who earns his way up is surely as inspirational and deserving as a wise latina. Still, the fight for equality of opportunity continues.

Dennis Thompson, an attorney for black firefighters who tried unsuccessfully last month to block the promotions of the plaintiffs, said Wednesday that his clients congratulate the newly promoted firefighters.

"Nobody is going to say these guys are unqualified," Thompson said.

But Thompson, who is trying to intervene in federal court in New Haven to challenge the validity of the exams now that they have been certified, said the fight is not over because the black firefighters were not heard. In other cases cities have been required to make more promotions than planned, he said.

"They understand this is a 15-round fight," Thompson said of his clients. "You don't decide who won in Round 3."

That prompted an angry reaction from Karen Torre, attorney for the white firefighters.

"Attorney Thompson's provocations and promise, to me, only demonstrates the need for the Supreme Court to take up the issue of the constitutionality of that provision of Title VII that allows such people to paralyze local governments and the civil service and hold the public hostage to endless litigation over the issue of race," Torre said in a statement.