Andy suffered from attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and dyslexia, but had made good progress with hands-on instruction, and his mother and middle school teachers thought that the smaller biotechnology program held the most promise for his continued success. 3, p.5 ([I]t would be difficult to find from any field of law a legal principle more repeatedly and conclusively decided than the one sought to be raised by appellants); Brief for Appellees in Davis v. County School Board, O.T. 1953, No. 4, 1984) (1984 Memorandum); Memorandum from Donald W. Ingwerson, Superintendent, to the Board of Education, Jefferson County Public School District, pp. Roberts replied that these classifications were clearly not necessary, since they had a "minimal effect" on student assignments. See Part I, supra, at 4; Appendix A, infra. By way of contrast, I do not claim to know how best to stop harmful discrimination; how best to create a society that includes all Americans; how best to overcome our serious problems of increasing de facto segregation, troubled inner city schooling, and poverty correlated with race. Here, race becomes a factor only in a fraction of students non-merit-based assignmentsnot in large numbers of students merit-based applications. To begin with, Justice Breyer seeks to justify the plans at issue under our precedents recognizing the compelling interest in remedying past intentional discrimination. Justia Annotations is a forum for attorneys to summarize, comment on, and analyze case law published on our site. The Current Plan: Project Renaissance Modified, 1996 to 2003. 3 1996 Memorandum 58; Hampton I, supra, at 768, n.30. PICS argues, however, that the Seattle School District is doing just thatemploying racial balancing for the sole purpose of achieving racial diversity in its individual schools. Post, at 2829. 1986) (upholding rezoning plan under rational-basis review). certiorari to the united states court of appeals for the ninth circuit, No. It provided that each elementary school would have a black student population of between 15% and 50%; each middle and high school would have a black population and a white population that fell within a range, the boundaries of which were set at 15% above and 15% below the general student population percentages in the county at that grade level. Although apparently Joshua has now been granted a transfer to Bloom, the school to which transfer was denied under the racial guidelines, Tr. Indeed, the plans before us are more narrowly tailored than the race-conscious admission plans that this Court approved in Grutter. Accepting racial balancing as a compelling state interest would justify imposing racial proportionality throughout American society, contrary to the Courts repeated admonitions that this is unconstitutional. What other numbers are the boards to use as a starting point? The Court split 414 on key aspects of the case, with Justice Kennedy writing the swing vote opinion and agreeing with four Justices (Roberts, Scalia, Thomas, and Alito) that the programs used by Seattle and Louisville did not pass constitutional muster (because the districts failed to demonstrate that their plans were sufficiently narrowly tailored), but Kennedy also found, along with four Justices (Breyer, Stevens, Souter, and Ginsburg), that compelling interests exist in avoiding racial isolation and promoting diversity. Perhaps recognizing as much, the dissent argues that the social science evidence is strong enough to permit a democratically elected school board reasonably to determine that this interest is a compelling one. Post, at 38. Argued December 4, 2006Decided June 28, 2007* Respondent school districts voluntarily adopted student assignment plans that rely on race to determine which schools certain children These plans are more narrowly tailored than the race-conscious law school admissions criteria at issue in Grutter. See Powell 35. of Ed., 402 U. S. 1, 24 (1971) (The constitutional command to desegregate schools does not mean that every school in every community must always reflect the racial composition of the school system as a whole), and here Jefferson County has already been found to have eliminated the vestiges of its prior segregated school system. Copy_of_SCOTUS_COMPARISON_QUESTION_TEST_v3_ - SCOTUS - Course Hero But eventually a state court found that the mandatory busing was lawful. 539 U. S., at 351352, 353. The Seattle School Board challenged the constitutionality of the initiative. In support of the third benefit, the District cites findings that minority students in fully integrated schools often perform better academically and are more likely to find work in an integrated workplace. of Jefferson Cty., 489 F.2d 925 (CA6 1973), vacated and remanded, 418 U. S. 918 (1974), reinstated with modifications, 510 F.2d 1358 (CA6 1974) (per curiam); Judgment and Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law in Newburg Area Council, Inc. v. Board of Ed., of Jefferson Cty., Nos. This Court in Adarand added that such classifications are constitutional only if they are narrowly tailored measures that further compelling governmental interests. Ibid. there are two compelling interests: 1. remedying the effect of past intentional discrimination 2. interest of student body diversity in higher education 1. In Parents Involved in Community Schools v. Seattle (2007), the United States Supreme Courtfound that the school district was using race in an unconstitutional manner in its assignment plan. In 1969 the NAACP filed a federal lawsuit against the school board, claiming that the board had unlawfully and unconstitutionally establish[ed] and maintain[ed] a system of racially segregated public schools. The complaint said that 77% of black public elementary school students in Seattle attended 9 of the citys 86 elementary schools and that 23 of the remaining schools had no black students at all. in No. I wholly concur in The Chief Justices opinion. 4 Memorandum Opinion and Order in Haycraft v. Board of Ed. See supra, at 45. App. Parents Involved in Community Schools v. Seattle School District No. See App. 05908, at 303a. 3 Planning and Evaluation Dept., Seattle Public Schools, The Plan Adopted by the Seattle School Board to Desegregate Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, and Eighth Grade Pupils in the Garfield, Lincoln, and Roosevelt High School Districts by September, 1971, pp. 10925, 26 Fed. A. Croson Co., 488 U. S. 469, 493 (1989) (plurality opinion). 05915, p.7, n.4; Tr. Moreover, the effect of applying race-conscious criteria here affects potentially disadvantaged students less severely, not more severely, than the criteria at issue in Grutter. By 1991, the board had concluded that assigning elementary school students to two or more schools during their elementary school years had proved educationally unsound and, if continued, would undermine Kentuckys newly adopted Education Reform Act. Therefore, as a general rule, all race-based government decisionmakingregardless of contextis unconstitutional. Court-Imposed Guidelines and Busing, 1972 to 1991. 2d 290, 294 (1967); Booker v. Board of Ed. See Lochner v. New York, 198 U. S. 45, 75 (1905) (Holmes, J., dissenting) (The Fourteenth Amendment does not enact Mr. Herbert Spencers Social Statics). 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. As becomes clearer when the districts plan is further considered, Jefferson County has explained how and when it employs these classifications only in terms so broad and imprecise that they cannot withstand strict scrutiny. In many such instances, the contentious force of legal challenges to these classifications, meritorious or not, would displace earlier calm. About 68% received their first choice. Since certain schools often became oversubscribed when too many students chose them as their first choice, the District used a system of tiebreakers to decide which students would be admitted to the popular schools. Pp. What about historically black colleges, which have established traditions and programs that might disproportionately appeal to one race or another? Independent School Dist., 719 S.W. 2d 350, 352-353 (Ct. App. Jefferson County fails to make clear to this Courteven in the limited respects implicated by Joshuas initial assignment and transfer denialwhether in fact it relies on racial classifications in a manner narrowly tailored to the interest in question, rather than in the far-reaching, inconsistent, and adhoc manner that a less forgiving reading of the record would suggest. See ante, at 31-32, n.16. There, too, the distinction serves as a limit on the exercise of a power that reaches to the very verge of constitutional authority. Thus, the programs are subject to the general rule that government race-based decisionmaking is unconstitutional. Parents Involved in Community Schools v. Seattle (2007) In 2003, the Supreme Court ruled in Gratz v. Bollinger and Grutter v. Bollinger that race-based classifications, as used in affirmative-action policies, must be "narrowly tailored" to a "compelling government interest," like diversity. See Brief for Respondents in No. Racial balancing is not transformed from patently unconstitutional to a compelling state interest simply by relabeling it racial diversity. While the school districts use various verbal formulations to describe the interest they seek to promoteracial diversity, avoidance of racial isolation, racial integrationthey offer no definition of the interest that suggests it differs from racial balance. August 6, 2007 - Connecticut General Assembly There must be at least 15 percent nonwhite students under Jefferson Countys plan; in Seattle, more than three times that figure. See generally Washington v. Seattle School Dist. But the principle of inherent equality that underlies and infuses our Constitution required the disestablishment of de jure segregation. Held:The judgments are reversed, and the cases are remanded. tutional Provisions in the States Where Segregation in Education is Institutionalized). This is by way of preface to my respectful submission that parts of the opinion by The Chief Justice imply an all-too-unyielding insistence that race cannot be a factor in instances when, in my view, it may be taken into account. Justice Breyer also tries to downplay the impact of the racial assignments by stating that in Seattle students can decide voluntarily to transfer to a preferred district high school (without any consideration of race-conscious criteria). Post, at 46. Twenty-one elementary schools were between roughly 90% and 100% white. See Milliken, 418 U. S., at 74142 (No single tradition in public education is more deeply rooted than local control over the operation of schools; local autonomy has long been thought essential both to the maintenance of community concern and support for public schools and to quality of the educational process). 1314. 3:02CV00620JGH; Doc. That is a gamble I am unwilling to take, and it is one the Constitution does not allow. Bowen & Bok 155. of Oral Arg. See also id., at 89 (It has been urged that [these state laws and policies] derive validity as a consequence of a long duration supported and made possible by a long line of judicial decisions, including expressions in some of the decisions of this Court. Justice Breyers dissent next looks for authority to a footnote in Washington v. Seattle School Dist. The dissents characterization of Swann as recognizing that the Equal Protection Clause permits local school boards to use race-conscious criteria to achieve positive race-related goals isat besta dubious inference. See Brief for Petitioner at 35. in No. Id., at 38a, 103a. Card, online at http://reportcard.ospi.k12.wa.us/summary.aspx?schoolId= There is a cruel irony in The Chief Justices reliance on our decision in Brown v. Board of Education, 349 U. S. 294 (1955). The District first gave priority to students who had a sibling at the school. Hence, I am not surprised that Justice Kennedy finds that, a district may consider it a compelling interest to achieve a diverse student population, including a racially diverse population. In fact, in each case the extreme measure of relying on race in assignments is unnecessary to achieve the stated goals, even as defined by the districts. To School Committee of Boston? The school board plans before us resemble many others adopted in the last 50 years by primary and secondary schools throughout the Nation. Why may the authorities not recognize the problem in candid fashion and solve it altogether through resort to direct assignments based on student racial classifications? Justice Breyer would not only put such extraordinary weight on admitted dicta, but relies on the statement for something it does not remotely say. 3, p.4647 (If this case were to be decided solely on the basis of precedent, this brief could have been much more limited. Contacting Justia or any attorney through this site, via web form, email, or otherwise, does not create an attorney-client relationship. Pp. Moreover, maintaining this federally mandated system of classification makes sense insofar as Seattles experience indicates that the relevant circumstances in respect to each of these different minority groups are roughly similar, e.g., in terms of residential patterns, and call for roughly similar responses. The plurality cites in support those who argued in Brown against segregation, and Justice Thomas likens the approach that I have taken to that of segregations defenders. 05915, pp. 1 uses an open choice plan in which students rank their preferred schools. of Ed. 05908, 426 F.3d 1162; No. 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). See App. This the Constitution forbids. Ibid. One can attempt to identify a construction of Jefferson Countys student assignment plan that, at least as a logical matter, complies with these competing propositions; but this does not remedy the underlying problem. IV); 34 CFR 280.2, 280.4 (2006) (implementing regulations). Bd. A majority of these desegregation techniques explicitly considered a students race. (Would it be necessary to adjudicate the obvious Justice Thomas also rejected the view advanced by the dissent that these school districts were in danger of resegregation. (explaining that the Constitution grants local school districts a significant degree of leeway). Certainly if the constitutionality of the stark use of race in these cases were as established as the dissent would have it, there would have been no need for the extensive analysis undertaken in Grutter. I cannot refer to the history of the plans in these cases to justify the use of race-conscious criteria without describing that history in full. See, e.g., Regents of Univ. See id., at 494 (The impact [of segregation] is greater when it has the sanction of the law). This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google, Opinion (Roberts), Concurrence (Thomas), Concurrence (Kennedy), Dissent (Breyer), Dissent (Stevens). Does the Constitution mandate this inefficient result? I write separately to address several of the contentions in Justice Breyers dissent (hereinafter the dissent). The way Seattle classifies its students bears this out. Independent School Dist., 719 S.W. 2d 350, 352353 (Tex. Those entrusted with directing our public schools can bring to bear the creativity of experts, parents, administrators, and other concerned citizens to find a way to achieve the compelling interests they face without resorting to widespread governmental allocation of benefits and burdens on the basis of racial classifications. Parents Involved in Community Schools v. Seattle School Dist. No. 1 . [Footnote 3] If it is still necessary to select students for the school after using the racial tiebreaker, the next tiebreaker is the geographic proximity of the school to the students residence. (Fourteenth Amendment creates rights guaranteed to the individual. Guided by these principles, the Court concluded: [W]e cannot say that a law which authorizes or even requires the separation of the two races in public conveyances is unreasonable, or more obnoxious to the Fourteenth Amendment than the acts of Congress requiring separate schools for colored children in the District of Columbia. Id., at 550551. v. Swann, 402 U. S. 43, 45 (1971), this Court, citing Swann, restated the point. 2002). But if the plan was lawful when it was first adopted and if it was lawful the day before the District Court dissolved its order, how can the plurality now suggest that it became unlawful the following day? 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. In 2003, the Supreme Court decided two casesGrutter v. Bollinger, 539 U.S. 306 (2003) and Gratz v. Bollinger, 539 U.S. 244 (2003)both of which involved affirmative action in higher education admissions. org/area/equityandrace/whiteprivilegeconference.xml. . See Hallinan 741742. The en banc Ninth Circuit declared that when a racially diverse school system is the goal (or racial concentration or isolation is the problem), there is no more effective means than a consideration of race to achieve the solution. Parents Involved VII, supra, at 1191. Id., at 73. In Grutter, the number of minority students the school sought to admit was an undefined meaningful number necessary to achieve a genuinely diverse student body. That policy was necessary because of numerous incidents of racial violence. Id., at 502; id., at 532534 (Thomas, J., dissenting). The parties and their amici dispute whether racial diversity in schools in fact has a marked impact on test scores and other objective yardsticks or achieves intangible socialization benefits.
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