See Tr. 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. majority opinion by Chief Justice Roberts and in the Here Roberts provides the following string citation: quoting Gratz v. Bollinger, 539 U.S. 244, 270, 123 S. Ct. 2411, 156 L. Ed. Those lower court judges reasoned that programs like these are not aimed at oppressing blacks and do not seek to give one racial group an edge over another. Comfort, supra, at 27 (Boudin, C.J., concurring); 426 F.3d, at 1193 (Kozinski, J., concurring). To invalidate the plans under review is to threaten the promise of Brown. 1, 127 S. Ct. 2738 (U.S. 2007) Brief Fact Summary. See id. Section 5. 1, 137 F.Supp.2d 1224 (W.D. 32, Exh. Yesterday, the plans under review were lawful. Not every decision influenced by race is equally objectionable, and strict scrutiny is designed to provide a framework for carefully examining the importance and the sincerity of the reasons advanced by the governmental decisionmaker for the use of race in that particular context. 539 U. S., at 326327. In Grutter, in the context of law school admissions, we found that these types of interests were, constitutionally speaking, compelling. See 539 U. S., at 330 (recognizing that Michigan Law Schools race-conscious admissions policy promotes cross-racial understanding, helps to break down racial stereotypes, and enables [students] to better understand persons of different races, and pointing out that the skills needed in todays increasingly global marketplace can only be developed through exposure to widely diverse people, cultures, ideas, and viewpoints (internal quotation marks omitted; alteration in original)). The dissents persistent refusal to accept this distinctionits insistence on viewing the racial classifications here as if they were just like the ones in McDaniel, devised to overcome a history of segregated public schools, post, at 47explains its inability to understand why the remedial justification for racial classifications cannot decide these cases. That seemingly odd turnaround is merely a result of the fact that the remediation of de jure segregation is a jealously guarded exception to the Equal Protection Clauses general rule against government race-based decisionmaking. Id., at 470. But what about Seattles? Wygant, 476 U. S., at 275276 (plurality opinion); id., at 295 (White, J., concurring in judgment). summary.aspx?schoolId=1104&reportLevel=School&orgLinkId=1104&yrs=; In the Justice's 77-page written opinion he called the ruling a "radical" step away from established law that would take from communities a critical tool used for many years in the prevention of resegregation. We take the Grutter Court at its word. This is especially true when we seek assurance that opportunity is not denied on account of race. of Ed., 439 U. S. 1380, 1383 (1978) (opinion in chambers), making clear that he too believed that Swanns statement reflected settled law: While I have the gravest doubts that [a state supreme court] was required by the United States Constitution to take the [desegregation] action that it has taken in this case, I have very little doubt that it was permitted by that Constitution to take such action. (Emphasis in original.). These cases consider the longstanding efforts of two local school boards to integrate their public schools. In sum, the districts race-conscious plans satisfy strict scrutiny and are therefore lawful. But eventually a state court found that the mandatory busing was lawful. Classifying and assigning schoolchildren according to a binary conception of race is an extreme approach in light of our precedents and our Nations history of using race in public schools, and requires more than such an amorphous end to justify it. The dissent refers to an opinion filed by Judge Kozinski in one of the cases now before us, and that opinion relied upon an opinion filed by Chief Judge Boudin in a case presenting an issue similar to the one here. Rather, they apply the strict scrutiny test in a manner that is fatal in fact only to racial classifications that harmfully exclude; they apply the test in a manner that is not fatal in fact to racial classifications that seek to include. The school boards widespread consultation, their experimentation with numerous other plans, indeed, the 40-year history that Part I sets forth, make clear that plans that are less explicitly race-based are unlikely to achieve the boards compelling objectives. Doubtless, hundreds of letters like this went out from both school boards every year these race-based assignment plans were in operation. Students could also apply to attend magnet elementary schools or programs. Id. See Parts IA and IB, supra, at 618. Id., at 464. In addition, there is no evidence from the experience of these school districts that it will make any meaningful impact. No distinction was made between various categories of non-whites; Asian-Americans, Latinos, Native Americans, and African-Americans were all treated solely as "non-white" for purposes of the tiebreaker. ; see also post, at 61. To the extent the plurality opinion suggests the Constitution mandates that state and local school authorities must accept the status quo of racial isolation in schools, it is, in my view, profoundly mistaken. This comparison makes clear that the racial demographics in each districtwhatever they happen to bedrive the required diversity numbers. Most non-white families live south of downtown, where five high schoolsChief Sealth, Cleveland, Franklin, Garfield, and Rainier Beachare located. The decision was a 5-4 split on the Court, with both sides claiming that their position was truest to the precedent set in Brown v. id., at 390 (Kennedy, J., dissenting) (expressing concern about narrow fluctuation band[s]). Accordingly, the school boards cannot satisfy strict scrutiny. Primary Documents: (Slip Opinion) December 4, 2006, Argued June 28, 2007, * Decided SYLLABUS: Respondent school districts voluntarily adopted student assignment plans that rely on race to determine which schools certain children may attend. The Founders meant the Constitution as a practical document that would transmit its basic values to future generations through principles that remained workable over time. in No. 76 76. Where there has been de jure segregation, there is a cognizable legal wrong, and the courts and legislatures have broad power to remedy it. 2d 854 (Kennedy, J., concurring in part [*2761] and concurring in judgment), "Parents Involved in Community Schools v. Seattle School District No. The District also contends that the racial tiebreaker was necessary because other race-neutral activities were inadequate to achieve their compelling interests. The NAACPs First Legal Challenge and Seattles Response, 1969 to 1977. In these cases, the fact that the number of students whose assignment depends on express racial classifications is small suggests that the schools could have achieved their stated ends through different means, including the facially race-neutral means set forth above or, if necessary, a more nuanced, individual evaluation of school needs and student characteristics that might include race as a component. Other cases cited are similarly inapplicable. Will Louisville and all similar school districts have to return to systems like Louisvilles initial 1956 plan, which did not consider race at all? there are two compelling interests: 1. remedying the effect of past intentional discrimination 2. interest of student body diversity in higher education 1. The decision was a 5-4 split on the Court, with both sides claiming that their position was truest to the precedent set in Brown v. Board of Education (1954). See Brief for Respondents in No. See Powell 35. 32 (2004); A Great Decision, Hindustan Times (New Dehli, May 20, 1954), p.5; USA Takes Positive Step, West African Pilot (Lagos, May 22, 1954), p. 2 (stating that Brown is an acknowledgment that the United States should set an example for all other nations by taking the lead in removing from its national life all signs and traces of racial intolerance, arrogance or discrimination). (quoting Wygant v. Jackson Bd. Indeed, it is a cruel distortion of history to compare Topeka, Kansas, in the 1950s to Louisville and Seattle in the modern dayto equate the plight of Linda Brown (who was ordered to attend a Jim Crow school) to the circumstances of Joshua McDonald (whose request to transfer to a school closer to home was initially declined). Extending Grutter to this context would require us to cut that holding loose from its theoretical moorings. The issue in Gratz arose, moreover, in the context of college admissions where students had other choices and precedent supported the proposition that First Amendment interests give universities particular latitude in defining diversity. It is the height of arrogance for Members of this Court to assert blindly that their motives are better than others. The dissents assertion that these plans are necessary for the school districts to maintain their hard-won gains reveals its conflation of segregation and racial imbalance. Lower state and federal courts had considered the matter settled and uncontroversial even before this Court decided Swann. to reject the argument that a race-conscious plan is permissible only when there has been a judicial finding of de jure segregation. 610 F.2d, at 663664. Cf. In both Seattle and Louisville, the local school districts began with schools that were highly segregated in fact. The dissent does not face the complicated questions attending its proposed standard. Brief for Petitioner at 3536. 1 etal. In contrast, Seattles website formerly described emphasizing individualism as opposed to a more collective ideology as a form of cultural racism, and currently states that the district has no intention to hold onto unsuccessful concepts such as [a] colorblind mentality. Harrell, School Web Site Removed: Examples of Racism Sparked Controversy, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, June 2, 2006, pp. Another amicus surveys several social science studies and concludes that a fair and comprehensive analysis of the research shows that there is no clear and consistent evidence of [educational] benefits. Brief for David J. Armor etal. An interest linked to nothing other than proportional representation of various races would support indefinite use of racial classifications, employed first to obtain the appropriate mixture of racial views and then to ensure that the [program] continues to reflect that mixture. Metro Broadcasting, supra, at 614 (OConnor, J., dissenting). Asian, Hispanic, White, etc. Is it not the height of wisdom that the manner in which that shall be conducted should be left to those most immediately affected by it, and that the wishes of the parents, both white and colored, should be ascertained before their children are forced into what may be an unwelcome contact?). See, e.g., Shaw v. Hunt, 517 U. S. 899, 909910 (1996) ([A]n effort to alleviate the effects of societal discrimination is not a compelling interest); Croson, supra, at 498499; Wygant, 476 U. S., at 276 (plurality opinion) (Societal discrimination, without more, is too amorphous a basis for imposing a racially classified remedy); id., at 288 (OConnor, J., concurring in part and concurring in judgment) ([A] governmental agencys interest in remedying societal discrimination, that is, discrimination not traceable to its own actions, cannot be deemed sufficiently compelling to pass constitutional muster). 1, 3, 5 (Apr. In 1977, the NAACP filed another legal complaint, this time with the federal Department of Health, Education, and Welfares Office for Civil Rights (OCR). Several of these cases were significantly more restrictive than Swann in respect to the degree of leniency the Fourteenth Amendment grants to programs designed to include people of all races. The sample includes districts in urban areas of all sizes, suburbs (e.g., Arlington County, Virginia) and rural areas (e.g., Jefferson Parish, Louisiana, and Raleigh County, West Virginia).
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