Race As Factor In School Enrollment Rejected

The Supreme Court yesterday ruled that public school systems generally should not use race as the determining factor of where students can enroll, rejecting two school districts' voluntary integration plans and threatening similar efforts nationwide.

The court's 5-4 decision against schools districts in Louisville, Ky., and Seattle will limit how school systems pursue controlling the makeup of their student body but doesn't entirely ban the use of race. In both instances, white parents sued the districts after their children were denied the schools of their choice based on race.Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. argued that "the way to stop discrimination on the basis of race is to stop discriminating on the basis of race." Justices Samuel A. Alito Jr., Clarence Thomas and Antonin Scalia concurred with him.

The fifth vote — Justice Anthony M. Kennedy — made sure the Supreme Court left room for race to be used in some limited circumstances. He agreed with the majority that these two specific plans didn't meet constitutional muster but said in a separate opinion that race-conscious measures can be crafted to encourage diversity "without treating each student in different fashion solely on the basis of a systematic, individual typing by race."Justice Stephen G. Breyer wrote the dissent, with the court's three other liberal justices — Ruth Bader Ginsburg, David H. Souter and John Paul Stevens — concurring.

"To invalidate the plans under review is to threaten the promise of Brown," wrote Justice Breyer, referring to Brown v. Board of Education, the landmark 1954 case that ruled segregated schools unconstitutional. "This is a decision that the court and the nation will come to regret."Ward Connerly, black conservative founder of the American Civil Rights Institute, said the ruling shows that "we're clearly moving in the direction of a color-blind government," adding that "the court is finally starting to catch up with what the American people have known for years: Race has no place in American public life."

But Ralph Neas, liberal president of People for the American Way Foundation, denounced the decision as "a terrible blow for school districts trying to overcome our nation's long legacy of segregation and take seriously the importance of diversity." He also blamed President Bush for the decision, saying that his appointment of Chief Justice Roberts and Justice Alito meant the court is "turning its back on the promise" made in the Brown v. Board of Education case.