The techniques that different districts have employed range from voluntary transfer programs to mandatory reassignment. Id., at 21. An adoption by the court of a rule that has such connotations as authorizing discrimination of young people will surely question prior decisions holding the opposite and spur related litigation in years to come. Indeed in Louisville itself the achievement gap between black and white elementary school students grew substantially smaller (by seven percentage points) after the integration plan was implemented in 1975. in No. Regardless of the constitutional validity of such remediation, see Croson, supra, at 524525 (Scalia, J., concurring in judgment), it does not apply here. Once Jefferson County achieved unitary status, it had remedied the constitutional wrong that allowed race-based assignments. In dozens of subsequent cases, this Court told school districts previously segregated by law what they must do at a minimum to comply with Browns constitutional holding. 3 1996 Memorandum 58; Hampton I, supra, at 768, n.30. Yesterday, the plans under review were lawful. We simply do not understand how Justice Breyer can maintain that classifying every schoolchild as black or white, and using that classification as a determinative factor in assigning children to achieve pure racial balance, can be regarded as less burdensome, and hence more narrowly tailored than the consideration of race in Grutter, post, at 47, when the Court in Grutter stated that [t]he importance of individualized consideration in the program was paramount, and consideration of race was one factor in a highly individualized, holistic review. 539 U. S., at 337. In both Seattle and Louisville, the local school districts began with schools that were highly segregated in fact. However, the government is entitled to consider race as one of several factors in determining school admissions and enrollment. And in light of those challenges, they have asked us not to take from their hands the instruments they have used to rid their schools of racial segregation, instruments that they believe are needed to overcome the problems of cities divided by race and poverty. Compton, California, on the other hand, became over 99 percent black in the 1980s, while Buffalo, New York had a virtual 5050 split between white and minority students prior to its 1977 plan. certiorari to the united states court of appeals for the ninth circuit, No. When the actual racial breakdown is considered, enrolling students without regard to their race yields a substantially diverse student body under any definition of diversity. There is a cruel irony in The Chief Justices reliance on our decision in Brown v. Board of Education, 349 U. S. 294 (1955). This Courts opinion in McDaniel v. Barresi, 402 U. S. 39 (1971), fits comfortably within this framework. It first appeared in Plessy, where the Court asked whether a state law providing for segregated railway cars was a reasonable regulation. 163 U. S., at 550. First, in schools that were formerly segregated by law, race-based measures are sometimes constitutionally compelled to remedy prior school segregation. 233234 (Summer 2001) (describing this effect in schools in Charlotte, North Carolina). I do not know of any opinion which buoyed Marshall more in his pre-Brown days ). Second, the plurality downplays the importance of Swann and related cases by frequently describing their relevant statements as dicta. These criticisms, however, miss the main point. 2d 290, 294 (1967); Booker v. Board of Ed. But see ante, at 29. 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. Likewise, a district may consider it a compelling interest to achieve a diverse student population. See Part I, supra, at 4; Appendix A, infra. in No. It again redrew school assignment boundaries. 1 (PICS): Resources On U.S. Supreme Court Voluntary School Desegregation Rulings The Civil Rights Project at UCLA", http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?court=us&vol=000&invol=05-908, "Justices Limit the Use of Race in School Plans for Integration", "Not Hearing History: A Critique of Chief Justice Roberts's Reinterpretation of, Parents Involved in Community Schools v. Seattle School District No. Second, there is an educational element: an interest in overcoming the adverse educational effects produced by and associated with highly segregated schools. In Brown v. Board of Education, 347 U. S. 483 (1954) (Brown I), we held that segregation deprived black children of equal educational opportunities regardless of whether school facilities and other tangible factors were equal, because government classification and separation on grounds of race themselves denoted inferiority. The principle that racial balancing is not permitted is one of substance, not semantics. Our cases recognized a fundamental difference between those school districts that had engaged in de jure segregation and those whose segregation was the result of other factors. Any use of race to distinguish one person from another threatens to stigmatize individuals and incite hostility. The dissent does not and cannot answer these questions because the contours of the distinction it propounds rest entirely in the eye of the beholder. See also Richmond v. J. However, the District applied for a rehearing before the full court of 12 judges. in Briggs v. Elliott, O.T. 1953, No. A Connecticut statute states that its student choice program will seek to preserve racial and ethnic balance. Conn. Gen. Stat. The long history of their efforts reveals the complexities and difficulties they have faced); post, at 21 (emphasizing the importance of local circumstances and encouraging different localities to try different solutions to common problems and gravitate toward those that prove most successful or seem to them best to suit their individual needs (citations and internal quotation marks omitted)); post, at 48 (emphasizing the school districts 40-year history during which both school districts have tried numerous approaches to achieve more integrated schools); post, at 63 ([T]he histories of Louisville and Seattle reveal complex circumstances and a long tradition of conscientious efforts by local school boards). In such cases, race-based remedial measures are sometimes required. 377 F.3d at 958. It is the height of arrogance for Members of this Court to assert blindly that their motives are better than others. Which of the following statements offers the most accurate comparison between this case and the decision in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka (1954)? If todays dissent said it was adhering to the views expressed in the separate opinions in Gratz and Grutter, see Gratz, 539 U. S., at 281 (Breyer, J., concurring in judgment); id., at 282 (Stevens, J., dissenting); id., at 291 (Souter, J., dissenting); id., at 298 (Ginsburg, J., dissenting); Grutter, supra, at 344 (Ginsburg, J., concurring), that would be understandable, and likely within the traditionto be invoked, in my view, in rare instancesthat permits us to maintain our own positions in the face of stare decisis when fundamental points of doctrine are at stake. Compare ante, at 29, with supra, at 69. And individual racial classifications employed in this manner may be considered legitimate only if they are a last resort to achieve a compelling interest. See ante, at 3436. Since then, no race-based remedial measures have been required in Louisville. Brief for Respondents in No. [1][2] Chief Justice Roberts wrote in his plurality opinion that The way to stop discrimination on the basis of race is to stop discriminating on the basis of race.[1] Some have credited this decision as contributing to schools resegregating in the United States, and it's been noted that American schools are more racially segregated now than in the late 1960s.[3]. Dawkins & Braddock 401403; Wells & Crain 550. See Church of the Lukumi v. Hialeah, 508 U.S. 520, 54647 (1993); Florida Star v. B.J.F. Can the government force racial mixing against the will of those being mixed? This, in turn, could encourage policy-makers to be more accountable to families and implement policy that is innovative and responsive to local needs. See ante, at 1112, 3132, n.16, 3435 (citing Adarand, supra, at 227; Johnson v. California, 543 U. S. 499, 505 (2005); Grutter v. Bollinger, 539 U. S. 306, 326 (2003)). 935, 937 (1989) (calling Brown the Supreme Courts greatest anti-discrimination decision); Brief for United States as Amicus Curiae in Brown, 347 U. S. 483; Dudziak, Brown as a Cold War Case, 91 J. The citations do not carry the significance the districts would ascribe to them. The School District relies on Grutter in describing the educational benefits of a diverse student body as (1) instilling the civic virtue of cross-racial understanding; (2) creating better-informed citizens by exposing students to a wide range of viewpoints; and (3) enabling students to achieve more success. See Grutter, supra, at 393 (Kennedy, J., dissenting) (allowing consideration of race only if it does not become a predominant factor). To raise the specter of resegregation to defend these programs is to ignore the meaning of the word and the nature of the cases before us. 1 uses an open choice plan in which students rank their preferred schools. Both districts also considered elaborate studies and consulted widely within their communities. Elementary schools in central Seattle were between 60% and 80% black; Garfield, the central district high school, was more than 50% minority; schools outside the central and southeastern sections of Seattle were virtually all white. The districts argue that other factors, such as student preferences, affect assignment decisions under their plans, but under each plan when race comes into play, it is decisive by itself. It is well established that when the government distributes burdens or benefits on the basis of individual racial classifications, that action is reviewed under strict scrutiny. of Ed. And I have explained how the plans before us are more narrowly tailored than those in Grutter. The segregationists also relied upon the likely practical consequences of ending the state-imposed system of racial separation. Today, they are not); post, at 66 (predicting further litigation, aggravating race-related conflict). Can we really be sure that the racial theories that motivated Dred Scott and Plessy are a relic of the past or that future theories will be nothing but beneficent and progressive? W. Bowen & D. Bok, The Shape of the River 118 (1998) (hereinafter Bowen & Bok). Unlike de jure segregation, there is no ultimate remedy for racial imbalance. by it. See Swann, supra, at 2526; Missouri v. Jenkins, 515 U. S. 70, 116 (1995) (Thomas, J., concurring). If the racial demographics of any school's student body deviated by more than a predetermined number of percentage points from those of Seattle's total student population (approximately 41% white and 59% non-white), the racial tiebreaker went into effect. Hundreds of state and federal statutes and regulations use racial classifications for educational or other purposes. Oyez, www.oyez.org/cases/2006/parents-involved-community-schools-v-seattle-school-district-1-et-al-06282007. 1986) (citing Swann and North Carolina Bd. It is convinced that the happiness, the progress and the welfare of these children is best promoted in segregated schools); Brief for Appellees on Reargument in Davis v. County School Board, O.T. 1953, No. 32, Exh. Cities that have implemented successful school desegregation plans have witnessed increased interracial contact and neighborhoods that tend to become less racially segregated. McFarland I, 330 F.Supp. Brief for Petitioner at 38. From almost the beginning, the Supreme Court contended that under this article it was unconstitutional for federal courts to issue mere advisory opinions; rather, the federal courts jurisdiction is restricted to deciding actual cases and controversies. Brief for Respondent at 3334. A similar reasoning could be applied in this case. The Court quoted the articulation of diversity from Justice Powells opinion in Regents of the University of California v. Bakke, 438 U. S. 265 (1978), noting that it is not an interest in simple ethnic diversity, in which a specified percentage of the student body is in effect guaranteed to be members of selected ethnic groups, that can justify the use of race. Grutter, supra, at 324325 (citing and quoting Bakke, supra, at 314315 (opinion of Powell, J. In many such instances, the contentious force of legal challenges to these classifications, meritorious or not, would displace earlier calm. 2. As a matter of social experimentation, the laws in question must satisfy the requirements of the Constitution. See Brief for Respondent at 13. See also Ho v. San Francisco Unified School Dist., 147 F.3d 854, 865 (CA9 1998). For Seattle, the dissent attempts to make up for this failing by adverting to allegations made in past complaints filed against the Seattle school district.
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