5-4 decision for the good guys.
As expected, the four criminal-friendly, anti-American, limousine
socialists voted for reverse racism to continue. Meanwhile Kennedy
went wishy-washy and kept the door open for reverse racism on a
limited basis, although he too ruled in favor of the good guys against
the Louisville and Seattle plans.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Supreme Court rejects school race plans By MARK SHERMAN, Associated
Press Writer
1 minute ago
WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court on Thursday rejected integration plans
in two major public school districts but left the door open for using
race to assign students in limited circumstances.
The decision in cases affecting schools in Louisville, Ky., and
Seattle could imperil similar plans in hundreds of districts
nationwide, and it further restricts how public school systems may
attain racial diversity.
The court split, 5-4, with Chief Justice John Roberts announcing the
court's judgment. The court's four liberal justices dissented.
"The way to stop discrimination on the basis of race is to stop
discriminating on the basis of race," Roberts said.
Yet Justice Anthony Kennedy would not go as far as the other four
conservative justices, saying in a concurring opinion that race may be
a component of school plans designed to achieve diversity.
To the extent that Roberts' opinion could be interpreted to foreclose
the use of race in any circumstance, Kennedy said, "I disagree with
that reasoning."
"A district may consider it a compelling interest to achieve a diverse
student population," Kennedy said. "Race may be one component of that
diversity."
He agreed with Roberts that the plans in Louisville and Seattle
violated constitutional guarantees of equal protection.
Justice Stephen Breyer, in a dissent joined by the other liberals on
the court, said Roberts' opinion undermined the promise of integrated
schools that the court laid out 53 years ago in its landmark decision
in Brown v. Board of Education.
"To invalidate the plans under review is to threaten the promise of
Brown," Breyer said.
While Roberts said the court was being faithful to the Brown decision,
Justice John Paul Stevens in a separate dissent called the chief
justice's reliance on Brown to rule against integration "a cruel
irony."
Justice Clarence Thomas, the court's only black member, wrote a
separate opinion endorsing the ruling and taking issue with the
dissenters' view of the Brown case.
"What was wrong in 1954 cannot be right today," Thomas said. "The
plans before us base school assignment decisions on students' race.
Because 'our Constitution is colorblind, and neither knows nor
tolerates classes among citizens,' such race-based decisionmaking is
unconstitutional."
The two school systems in Thursday's decisions employ slightly
different methods of taking students' race into account when
determining which school they will attend.
Federal appeals courts had upheld both plans after some parents sued.
The Bush administration took the parents' side, arguing that racial
diversity is a noble goal but can be sought only through race-neutral
means.
The Louisville case grew out of complaints from several parents whose
children were not allowed to attend the schools of their choice.
Crystal Meredith, a white, single mother, sued after the school system
turned down a request to transfer her 5-year-old son Joshua Ryan
McDonald, to a school closer to home.
Louisville's schools spent 25 years under a court order to eliminate
the effects of state-sponsored segregation. After a federal judge
freed the Jefferson County, Ky., school board, which encompasses
Louisville, from his supervision, the board decided to keep much of
the court-ordered plan in place to prevent schools from
re-segregating.
The lawyer for the Louisville system called the plan a success story
that enjoys broad community support, including among parents of white
and black students.
Attorney Teddy Gordon, who argued that the Louisville system's plan
was discriminatory, said, "Clearly, we need better race-neutral
alternatives. Instead of spending zillions of dollars around the
country to place a black child next to a white child, let's reduce
class size. All the schools are equal. We will no longer accept that
an African-American majority within a school is unacceptable."
Louisville Mayor Jerry Abramson said he was disappointed with the
ruling because Louisville's system had provided "a quality education
for all students and broken down racial barriers" for 30 years.
He said he was confident school leaders effective new guidelines.
The Seattle school district said it used race as one among many
factors, relied on it only in some instances and then only at the end
of a lengthy process in allocating students among the city's high
schools. Seattle suspended its program after parents sued.
The opinion was the first on the divisive issue since 2003, when a 5-4
ruling upheld the limited consideration of race in college admissions
to attain a diverse student body. Since then, Justice Sandra Day
O'Connor, who approved of the limited use of race, retired. Her
replacement, Justice Samuel Alito was in the majority that struck down
the school system plans in Kentucky and Washington.
The cases are Parents Involved in Community Schools v. Seattle School
District No. 1, 05-908, and Meredith v. Jefferson County Board of
Education, 05-915.
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