In respect to high schools, for example, a student was given a list of a subset of schools, carefully selected by the board to balance racial distribution in the district by including neighborhood schools and schools in racially different neighborhoods elsewhere in the city. 1.9 In Parents Involved in Community Schools v. Seattle School District No. The statement was not a technical holding in the case. 377 F.3d at 958. Indeed, the very school districts that once spurned integration now strive for it. Today, they are not); post, at 66 (predicting further litigation, aggravating race-related conflict). What about historically black colleges, which have established traditions and programs that might disproportionately appeal to one race or another? See Parts IA and IB, supra, at 618. Id., at 483487. Although all governmental uses of race See 426 F.3d, at 1208 (Bea, J., dissenting). It reported that most districts92 of them, in factadopted desegregation policies that combined two or more highly race-conscious strategies, for example, rezoning or pairing. 1. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google, Opinion (Roberts), Concurrence (Thomas), Concurrence (Kennedy), Dissent (Breyer), Dissent (Stevens). 1922). The notion that a democratic interest qualifies as a compelling interest (or constitutes a part of a compelling interest) is proposed for the first time in todays dissent and has little basis in the Constitution or our precedent, which has narrowly restricted the interests that qualify as compelling. Yet the school district does not explain how, in the context of its diverse student population, a blunt distinction between white and non-white furthers these goals. Today, more than one in six black children attend a school that is 99100% minority. Id., at 494. . Then-Justice Rehnquist, in denying emergency relief, stressed that equitable consideration[s] counseled against preliminary relief. See Tr. App. As a matter of social experimentation, the laws in question must satisfy the requirements of the Constitution. That policy was necessary because of numerous incidents of racial violence. Id., at 502; id., at 532534 (Thomas, J., dissenting). This case is the last of a trilogy of cases against Jefferson County Public Schools (JCPS), including McFarland v. Jefferson County Public Schools,[8] and their use of race in assigning students to schools. In part for those reasons, the Court has never permitted outright racial balancing solely for the purpose of achieving a particular racial balance. To be forced to live under a state-mandated racial label is inconsistent with the dignity of individuals in our society. Thus, the opinions reasoning is long. See 539 U. S., at 320. Card, online at http://reportcard.ospi.k12.wa.us/summary.aspx?schoolId= 458 U. S., at 472, n.15. In Louisville, a federal court entered a remedial decree. Yet the district also maintains that the guidelines do not apply to kindergartens, Brief for Respondents in No. 1 that the racial classifications used by school districts in Seattle and Louisville to create diverse schools were unconstitutional. 05908. In Parents Involved in Community Schools v. Seattle (2007), the United States Supreme Court found that the school district was using race in an unconstitutional manner in its assignment plan. 1, supra, at 461; Complaint and Motion to Dismiss or Affirm in Seattle School Dist. Sociological Rev. In this plurality opinion, Roberts wrote that the schools at issue contend that a racially diverse environment is beneficial for education and they submit this as the reason why they consider race alone in their school assignments. Resort to the record, including the parties Stipulation of Facts, further confuses the matter. in No. 1 1996 Memorandum 14; Brief for Respondents in No. I next ask whether the plans before us are narrowly tailored to achieve these compelling objectives. They asked the court to dissolve the desegregation order and to hold the use of magnet school racial guidelines unconstitutional. Chief Justice Roberts announced the judgment of the Court, and delivered the opinion of the Court with respect to Parts I, II, IIIA, and IIIC, and an opinion with respect to Parts IIIB and IV, in which Justices Scalia, Thomas, and Alito join. See, e.g., Eisenberg v. Montgomery Cty. Second, if the schools racial make-up was more than 15 percent out of line with the overall racial composition of the school district (classified only as white and nonwhite), then the students race was considered. of Ed., 402 U. S. 1, 16 (1971), by then-Justice Rehnquist in chambers in Bustop, Inc. v. Los Angeles Bd. Voluntary cessation does not moot a case or controversy unless subsequent events ma[ke] it absolutely clear that the allegedly wrongful behavior could not reasonably be expected to recur, Friends of Earth, Inc. v. Laidlaw Environmental Services (TOC), Inc., 528 U. S. 167, 189 (2000) (quoting United States v. Concentrated Phosphate Export Assn., Inc., 393 U. S. 199, 203 (1968) (internal quotation marks omitted)), a heavy burden that Seattle has clearly not met. The student population of the school district is approximately 40% white, 60% non-white. at 116970. in No. See Adarand Constructors, Inc. v. Peńa, 515 U. S. 200, 240 (1995) (Thomas, J., concurring in part and concurring in judgment). Post, at 38. Compare, e.g., App. 137 F.Supp. In addition, Meredith sought damages in her complaint, which is sufficient to preserve our ability to consider the question. Rather, the Constitution creates a democratic political system through which the people themselves must together find answers. As Justice Marshall said, unless our children begin to learn together, there is little hope that our people will ever learn to live together. Milliken v. Bradley, 418 U. S. 717, 783 (1974) (dissenting opinion). The school board plans before us resemble many others adopted in the last 50 years by primary and secondary schools throughout the Nation. Students could also apply to attend magnet elementary schools or programs. Finally, the plan created two new magnet schools, one each at the elementary and middle school levels. A non-profit group, Parents Involved in Community Schools, sued the District, arguing that the racial tiebreaker violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment as well as the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Washington state law. The Court need not resolve the parties dispute over whether racial diversity in schools has a marked impact on test scores and other objective yardsticks or achieves intangible socialization benefits because it is clear that the racial classifications at issue are not narrowly tailored to the asserted goal. Five Supreme Court justices rejected voluntary desegregation plans in Seattle and . Indeed, in McDaniel, a case decided the same day as Swann, a group of parents challenged a race-conscious student assignment plan that the Clarke County School Board had voluntarily adopted as a remedy without a court order (though under federal agency pressurepressure Seattle also encountered). PICS also argues that the lower courts neglected to apply the correct strict scrutiny standard and instead gave undo deference to the school board. As I explained in Grutter, only those measures the State must take to provide a bulwark against anarchy or to prevent violence and a governments effort to remedy past discrimination for which it is responsible constitute compelling interests. 1. See Brief for Petitioner at 44. No person in the United States shall, on the ground of race be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance. 78 Stat. Id., at 39a. I have no quarrel with the proposition that the Fourteenth Amendment sought to bring former slaves into American society as full members. Approximately 307 student assignments were affected by the racial tiebreaker in 20002001; the district was able to track the enrollment status of 293 of these students. Swann, supra, at 6; see also Green v. School Bd. See Parts IIIIV, supra, at 3757. Even if current social theories favor classroom racial engineering as necessary to solve the problems at hand, post, at 21, the Constitution enshrines principles independent of social theories. Without the racial tiebreaker, the class would have been 39.6 percent Asian-American, 30.2 percent African-American, 8.3 percent Latino, 1.1 percent Native-American, and 20.8 percent Caucasian. This litigation was commenced in July 2000, and the record in the District Court was closed before assignments for the 20012002 school year were made. 05915, at89. 2434. are abandoning the policy of segregation whenever local conditions and local attitudes make it feasible), Brief for Appellees on Reargument in Davis v. County School Board, O.T. 1953, No. The Fourteenth Amendment does not enact the dissents newly minted understanding of liberty. Moreover, the democratic interest has no durational limit, contrary to Grutters command. 2 Id., at 151152; Hanawalt 3738; Seattle School Dist. 1, p.57 ([T]he people of Kansas . Navigating around that inconvenient authority, the dissent argues that the racial balancing in these plans is not an end in itself but is instead intended to teac[h] children to engage in the kind of cooperation among Americans of all races that is necessary to make a land of three hundred million people one Nation. Post, at 3940. 05908, pp. 2d 304. Id. 1 operates 10 regular public high schools. These plans are unconstitutional. The basic problem with the pluralitys technical dicta-based response lies in its overly theoretical approach to case law, an approach that emphasizes rigid distinctions between holdings and dicta in a way that serves to mask the radical nature of todays decision. Justice Breyers dissent next looks for authority to a footnote in Washington v. Seattle School Dist. See, e.g., Brief for Appellants in Brown v. Board of Education, O.T. 1953, Nos. 111116 (1974) (same). This Court has made many decisions of widespread effect; none would affect more people more directly in more fundamental interests and, in fact, cause more chaos in local government than a reversal of the decision in this case). Cf. While it acknowledges that racial classifications are used to make certain assignment decisions, it fails to make clear, for example, who makes the decisions; what if any oversight is employed; the precise circumstances in which an assignment decision will or will not be made on the basis of race; or how it is determined which of two similarly situated children will be subjected to a given race-based decision. It is reasonable to conclude that such resegregation can create serious educational, social, and civic problems. Studies suggest that children taken from those schools and placed in integrated settings often show positive academic gains. The segregationists in Brown argued that their racial classifications were benign, not invidious. A non-profit group, Parents Involved in Community Schools (Parents), sued the District, arguing that the racial tiebreaker violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment as well as the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Washington state law. Contrary to the dissents rhetoric, neither of these school districts is threatened with resegregation, and neither is constitutionally compelled or permitted to undertake race-based remediation. of Ed., 402 U. S. 1, 810 (1971); see also Croson, 488 U. S., at 519 (Kennedy, J., concurring in part and concurring in judgment) (noting that racial classifications may be the only adequate remedy after a judicial determination that a State or its instrumentality has violated the Equal Protection Clause). At the same time, all students were free subsequently to transfer from the school at which they were initially placed to a different school of their choice without regard to race. Louisville began its integration efforts in earnest when a federal court in 1975 entered a school desegregation order. Yesterday, the plans under review were lawful. Nothing in the opinion approves use of racial classifications as the means to address the imbalance. area/siso/disprof/2005/DP05all.pdf; Brief for Respond- Similarly, the Federal courts which have considered the issue . The parties and their amici debate which side is more faithful to the heritage of Brown, but the position of the plaintiffs in Brown was spelled out in their brief and could not have been clearer: [T]he Fourteenth Amendment prevents states from according differential treatment to American children on the basis of their color or race. Brief for Appellants in Nos. Jefferson County has failed to present any evidence that it considered alternatives, even though the district already claims that its goals are achieved primarily through means other than the racial classifications. in No. That necessary implication of the pluralitys position strikes the 13th chime of the clock. That plan, which took effect before 1996, is the very plan that in all relevant respects is in effect now and is the subject of the present challenge. Public Schools, 416 F.3d 513, 514 (2005) (McFarland II). Even after Brown, some schools with predominantly black enrollments have achieved outstanding educational results. [Footnote 6] Id., at 28a35a. See also Hanawalt 31; Pub. Instead, it selectively relies on inapplicable precedent and even dicta while dismissing contrary holdings, alters and misapplies our well-established legal framework for assessing equal protection challenges to express racial classifications, and greatly exaggerates the consequences of todays decision. 2d 1224 (2001); 426 F.3d 1162 (CA9 2005) (en banc) (Parents Involved VII). The fact that many such plans have used explicitly racial criteria suggests that such criteria have an important, sometimes necessary, role to play. Thus, the programs are subject to the general rule that government race-based decisionmaking is unconstitutional. Moreover, these cases are not governed by Grutter v. Hampton, 102 F.Supp. See also Ho v. San Francisco Unified School Dist., 147 F.3d 854, 865 (CA9 1998). This racially imbalanced environment has reportedly produced test scores higher across all grade levels in reading, writing and math. Ibid. (2007) Parents Involved in Community Schools v. Seattle School District School districts can seek to reach Browns objective of equal educational opportunity. Percentage of Students in Minority Schools by Race, 20002001. Grutter v. Bollinger, 539 U. S. 306, 371 (2003) (Thomas, J., concurring in part and dissenting in part) (citing Adarand Constructors, Inc. v. Peńa, 515 U. S. 200, 239 (1995) (Scalia, J., concurring in part and concurring in judgment)). In the real world, it is regrettable to say, it cannot be a universal constitutional principle. See, e.g., Swann, supra, at 2627; Montgomery Co. Bd. No. The districts assert, as they must, that the way in which they have employed individual racial classifications is necessary to achieve their stated ends. And during the same time, hundreds of local school districts have adopted student assignment plans that use race-conscious criteria. The original litigation eventually became a lawsuit against the Jefferson County School System, which in April 1975 absorbed Louisvilles schools and combined them with those of the surrounding suburbs. See App. App. In doing so, a reviewing judge must be fully aware of the potential dangers and pitfalls that Justice Thomas and Justice Kennedy mention. 32, Exh. Nor could it. The Bible would be known in the legal community as the first Mr. Justice Harlans dissent in Plessy v. Ferguson, 163 U. S. 537, 552 (1896). Most white students live in the northern part of Seattle, most students of other racial backgrounds in the southern part. PDF Official - Subject to Final Review - Supreme Court of the United States The plans under reviewwhich are less burdensome, more egalitarian, and more effective than prior planscontinue in that tradition. 1, a case decided by the United States Supreme Court in 2007, established the Seattle School District's racial tiebreaker plan as unconstitutional under the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. With respect to avoiding racial isolation, Kennedy wrote, "A compelling interest exists in avoiding racial isolation, an interest that a school district, in its discretion and expertise, may choose to pursue. What the government is not permitted to do, absent a showing of necessity not made here, is to classify every student on the basis of race and to assign each of them to schools based on that classification. Order No. The measures required by those cases often included race-conscious practices, such as mandatory busing and race-based restrictions on voluntary transfers. All of those plans represent local efforts to bring about the kind of racially integrated education that Brown v. Board of Education, 347 U. S. 483 (1954), long ago promisedefforts that this Court has repeatedly required, permitted, and encouraged local authorities to undertake. Id., at 525528 (Thomas, J., dissenting). The distinction between segregation by state action and racial imbalance caused by other factors has been central to our jurisprudence in this area for generations. Thus, in respect to race-conscious desegregation measures that the Constitution permitted, but did not require (measures similar to those at issue here), this Court unanimously stated: School authorities are traditionally charged with broad power to formulate and implement educational policy and might well conclude, for example, that in order to prepare students to live in a pluralistic society each school should have a prescribed ratio of Negro to white students reflecting the proportion for the district as a whole. See id., at 12, 2930. In a footnote the Justice added a personal mention of Justice Breyer: "Justice Breyer's good intentions, which I do not doubt, have the shelf life of Justice Breyer's tenure. We are not social engineers. 1? 1, 426 F. 3d 1162, 1177 (9th Cir. The districts also vary in their racial compositions and levels of segregation. If the Primary 1 (Kindergarten) placement does not enhance racial balance, a new application must be completed for Primary 2 (Grade One)). We raise this fact not to argue that the dismissal should be afforded any different stare decisis effect, but rather simply to suggest that perhapsfor the reasons noted abovethe dismissal does not mean what Justice Stevens believes it does. The sweep of the mandate claimed by the district is contrary to our rulings that remedying past societal discrimination does not justify race-conscious government action. Observers claim that the Supreme Court's decision in Parents Involved in Community Schools v. Seattle School District No. 05908, at 137a139a. The minimal effect these classifications have on student assignments, however, suggests that other means would be effective. Public Schools, 197 F.3d 123, 133 (CA4 1999); Tuttle v. Arlington Cty. In June 2007 the United States Supreme Court issued a narrow five to four ruling invalidating racial integration plans in Seattle, Washington and Louisville, Kentucky. Post, at 22. Aside from constitutionally compelled remediation in schools, this Court has permitted government units to remedy prior racial discrimination only in narrow circumstances. PDF Affirmative Action and Diversity in Public Education: Legal Developments At some point, the discrete injury will be remedied, and the school district will be declared unitary. Finally, it lists several race-neutral alternatives that were considered (such as a lottery system, the use of poverty as a proxy for race, and regional assignments) and argues that they would not have been as effective as the plan that is the subject of this litigation. were race-neutral) does not indicate the decline in black achieve- 3, p.8 ([W]e take the unqualified position that the Fourteenth Amendment has totally stripped the state of power to make race and color the basis for governmental action); Tr. of Boston v. Board of Education, 389 U. S. 572 (1968) (per curiam). Id. Likewise, a district may consider it a compelling interest to achieve a diverse student population. 2001) (hereinafter Powell); Hallinan, Diversity Effects on Student Outcomes: Social Science Evidence, 59 Ohio St. L.J. The Court has changed significantly since it decided School Comm. ment one would expect to find if black achievement were contin- 1 L. Kohn, Priority Shift: The Fate of Mandatory Busing for School Desegregation in Seattle and the Nation 2730, 32 (Mar. 3, p. 57 ([T]he historical background that exists, certainly in this Virginia situation, with all the strife and the history that we have shown in this record, shows a basis, a real basis, for the classification that has been made); id., at 69 (describing the potential abolition of segregation as contrary to the customs, the traditions and the mores of what we might claim to be a great people, established through generations, who themselves are fiercely and irrevocably dedicated to the preservation of the white and colored races). 26401 (1948). 1996) (Perhaps desegregation does not have a single effect, positive or negative, on the academic achievement of African American students, but rather some strategies help, some hurt, and still others make no difference whatsoever. There seems to be no principled rule, moreover, to limit the dissents rationale to the context of public schools. In this case, the Ninth Circuit held that the School District had a compelling state interest in achieving racial and ethnic diversity in its individual schools. But that legal circumstance cannot make a critical difference here for two separate reasons. In the administration of public schools by the state and local authorities it is permissible to consider the racial makeup of schools and to adopt general policies to encourage a diverse student body, one aspect of which is its racial composition. And each plans use of race-conscious elements is diminished compared to the use of race in preceding integration plans. I quote the Illinois Supreme Court at length to illustrate the prevailing legal assumption at the time Swann was decided. Reg. Applying a test from Grutter, the Circuit Court also ruled that the tiebreaker plan was narrowly tailored, because 1) the District did not employ quotas, 2) the District had considered race-neutral alternatives, 3) the plan caused no undue harm to races, and 4) the plan had an ending point.
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