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Parents Involved in Community Schools v. Seattle School District No. This plan labeled racially imbalanced any school at which the percentage of black students exceeded by more than 20% the minority population of the school district as a whole. Therefore, even supposing interracial contact leads directly to improvements in racial attitudes and race relations, a program that assigns students of different races to the same schools might not capture those benefits. Numerical racial balance in a district's schools is far from a compelling interest, and in fact it is not even a legitimate purpose. In 2000, Federal Judge John Heyburn, after finding that the JCPS school system did not need to be under a court-ordered desegregation policy, ruled that race could not be used for student assignment placement in the JCPS school system in regard to their magnet school programs. The dissent does not face the complicated questions attending its proposed standard. of Ed etal., on certiorari to the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. Grutter, supra, at 364365 (Thomas, J., concurring in part and concurring in judgment) (citing sources); see also Fordice, 505 U. S., at 748749 (Thomas, J., concurring). [Footnote 1] The plan allows incoming ninth graders to choose from among any of the districts high schools, ranking however many schools they wish in order of preference. 1806, 20 U. S.C. 7231 et seq. summary.aspx?schoolId=1104&reportLevel=School&orgLinkId=1104&yrs=; [Footnote 2] If an oversubscribed school is not within 10 percentage points of the districts overall white/nonwhite racial balance, it is what the district calls integration positive, and the district employs a tiebreaker that selects for assignment students whose race will serve to bring the school into balance. Id., at 38a. The Seattle school district has tried a variety of plans over the past several decades to prevent the de-facto segregation that would occur if students were assigned to schools on a purely geographic basis. 05915, at 82. denied, 546 U. S. 1061 (2005). See Wygant v. Jackson Board of Education, 476 U. S. 267, 274 (1986); Fullilove v. Klutznick, 448 U. S. 448, 507 (1980). Remediation of past de jure segregation is a one-time process involving the redress of a discrete legal injury inflicted by an identified entity. appeals for the sixth circuit. Parents Involved VII, 426 F.3d, at 1192. (explaining why dicta is not binding). 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. See id., at 1032 (discussing other successful black schools); Walker, Can Institutions Care? 2, 4, 5 (WD Ky. 1999) (Hampton I). Does the Constitution mandate this inefficient result? PICS cites previous Court cases holding that when a means used does not actually address all the harm it purports to address, it cannot be a compelling interest. Jefferson County estimates that the racial guidelines account for only 3 percent of assignments. Id., at 43. This Court upheld the plan, see McDaniel, 402 U. S., at 41, rejecting the parents argument that a person may not be included or excluded solely because he is a Negro or because he is white. Brief for Respondents in McDaniel, O. T. 1970, No. The Court did not say in Adarand or in Johnson or in Grutter that it was overturning Swann or its central constitutional principle. 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?). Racial imbalance is the failure of a school districts individual schools to match or approximate the demographic makeup of the student population at large. Parents of school children sued the Seattle School Districts after their children were assigned to particular schools based on racial classifications to achieve integration in the school system. These include the types of activities or programs offered, the teachers, and the schools location. And in no field is this right of the several states more clearly recognized than in that of public education (quoting Briggs v. Elliott, 98 F.Supp. Though this may oversimplify the matter a bit, one of the main concerns underlying those opinions was this: If it is legitimate for school authorities to work to avoid racial isolation in their schools, must they do so only by indirection and general policies? in No. On the other hand, if the Court chooses not to give deference to the School District, school boards may lose some of their decision-making discretion, which could result in diminished community support. [Footnote 3]. Evidence that race is a good proxy for other factors that might be correlated with educational benefits does not support a compelling interest in the use of race to achieve academic results. 17, 48 (1978). Const., Art. The Seattle Board Statement Reaffirming Diversity Rationale speaks of the inherent educational value in [p]roviding students the opportunity to attend schools with diverse student enrollment, App. of Oral Arg. there are two compelling interests: 1. remedying the effect of past intentional discrimination 2. interest of student body diversity in higher education 1. http://reportcard. The Seattle school district classifies children as white or nonwhite; the Jefferson County school district as black or other. In Seattle, this racial classification is used to allocate slots in oversubscribed high schools. Moreover, there is research-based evidence supporting, for example, that a ratio no greater than 50% minoritywhich is Louisvilles starting point, and as close as feasible to Seattles starting pointis helpful in limiting the risk of white flight. See Orfield, Metropolitan School Desegregation: Impacts on Metropolitan Society, in Pursuit of a Dream Deferred: Linking Housing and Education Policy 121, 125. Therefore, it took the unusual step of certifying a question for the Washington Supreme Court to answer before it decided the appeal. Instead, what was upheld in Grutter was consideration of a far broader array of qualifications and characteristics of which racial or ethnic origin is but a single though important element. 539 U. S., at 325 (quoting Bakke, supra, In his concurrence, Kennedy differed with the plurality because, he found, the goal of obtaining a diverse student body is a compelling state interest. See Gratz v. Bollinger, 539 U. S. 244, 275. The District, however, argues that its consideration of race is to further the compelling state interest of achieving the beneficial effects of racial diversity. See id., at 152 (opinion of Stewart, J.). As I have pointed out, supra, at 4, de facto resegregation is on the rise. App. Nothing in the extensive history of desegregation efforts over the past 50 years gives the districts, or this Court, any reason to believe that another method is possible to accomplish these goals. And Swann, McDaniel, Crawford, North Carolina Bd. 4. But that distinction concerns what the Constitution requires school boards to do, not what it permits them to do. 05915, pp. Again, this approach to racial classifications is fundamentally at odds with our precedent, which makes clear that the Equal Protection Clause protect[s] persons, not groups, Adarand, 515 U. S., at 227 (emphasis in original). If the dissent were to say that college cases are simply not applicable to public school systems in kindergarten through high school, this would seem to me wrong, but at least an arguable distinction. Part IV (again joined only by a plurality of the Court) addressed Justice Breyer's dissent. To remedy the wrong, school districts that had been segregated by law had no choice, whether under court supervision or pursuant to voluntary desegregation efforts, but to resort to extraordinary measures including individual student and teacher assignment to schools based on race. Breyer, J., filed a dissenting opinion, in which Stevens, Souter, and Ginsburg, JJ., joined. dave chappelle: the closer vinyl. More broadly, however, allowing racial diversity or balance as a compelling state interest, even if confined to secondary education, calls into question the Equal. Because the school boards lack any further interest in remedying segregation, this element offers no support for the purported interest in integration.. Today, the Court holds that state entities may not experiment with race-based means to achieve ends they deem socially desirable. In 1972, civil rights groups and parents, claiming unconstitutional segregation, sued the Louisville Board of Education in federal court. First, in an open choice district like that in Seattle, using race as an isolated factor for admission may deny some students the opportunity to attend the school of their choice, thereby burdening those families affected. of Ed., 402 U. S., at 46; Montgomery County Bd. 05915, at 38. . Id. 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). One of those plans, which involved using race as a factor in assigning students to high schools, is the subject of this litigation. Roberts (Parts I, II, IIIA, and IIIC), joined by Scalia, Kennedy, Thomas, Alito, Roberts (Parts IIIB and IV), joined by Scalia, Thomas, Alito, Breyer, joined by Stevens, Souter, Ginsburg. This decision departs from long-standing jurisprudence on school desegregation. Pp. Any other approach would freeze the status quo that is the very target of all desegregation processes.). Section 4. There is every reason to think that, if the dissents rationale were accepted, Congress, assuming an otherwise proper exercise of its spending authority or commerce power, could mandate either the Seattle or the Jefferson County plans nationwide. Yet the plurality would deprive them of at least one tool that some districts now consider vitalthe limited use of broad race-conscious student population ranges. In addition, Meredith sought damages in her complaint, which is sufficient to preserve our ability to consider the question. With this explanation I concur in the judgment of the Court. In 2001, after the decree had been dissolved, Jefferson County adopted the voluntary student assignment plan at issue in this case. In the 20002001 school year, for example, with the racial tiebreaker, the entering ninth grade class at Franklin High School had a 60% minority population; without the racial tiebreaker that same class at Franklin would have had an almost 80% minority population. The historical and factual context in which these cases arise is critical. To make race matter now so that it might not matter later may entrench the very prejudices we seek to overcome. We have emphasized that the harm being remedied by mandatory desegregation plans is the harm that is traceable to segregation, and that the Constitution is not violated by racial imbalance in the schools, without more. Milliken v. Bradley, 433 U. S. 267, 280, n.14 (1977). In both cities plaintiffs filed lawsuits claiming unconstitutional segregation. Opinions differed. And [p]referring members of any one group for no reason other than race or ethnic origin is discrimination for its own sake. Bakke, 438 U. S., at 307 (opinion of Powell, J.). If we are to insist upon unanimity in the social science literature before finding a compelling interest, we might never find one. 2d 902 (1980) (Stevens, J., dissenting); brackets omitted). Few black residents lived outside the central section of the city. Accord, post, at 61 (At a minimum, the pluralitys views would threaten a surge of race-based litigation. 214a, 225a, 257a. Seattle has no history of de jure segregation; therefore, the Constitution did not require Seattles plan. Because Louisville could use race-based measures only as a remedy for past de jure segregation, it is not incoherent, post, at 56, to say that race-based decisionmaking was allowed to Louisville one daywhile it was still remedyingand forbidden to it the nextwhen remediation was finished. "[5], According to Kennedy, "The cases here were argued upon the assumption, and come to us on the premise, that the discrimination in question did not result from de jure actions." The record suggests, however, that the child in question was not assigned to the school he preferred because he missed the kindergarten application deadline. Whats your understanding of when a school suffers from racial isolation? [Footnote 8]. 2005) (" Parents IV"). Roberts cites to: "Id., at 330, 123 S. Ct. 2325, 156 L. Ed. 252, 42 U. S.C. 2000d. It simply recognizes that judges are not well suited to act as school administrators. 05908, pp. in Davis v. County School Board, O.T. 1952, No. And it has its roots in preventing what gradually may become the de facto resegregation of Americas public schools. Independent School Dist., 719 S.W. 2d 350, 352353 (Tex. App. 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. 05915, at 12, and n.13. This conclusion is divorced from any evaluation of the actual impact of the plans at issue in these casesother than to note that the plans often have no effect. Post, at 46. 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. See Missouri v. Jenkins, 515 U. S. 70, 124125 (1995), (Thomas, J., concurring). [Footnote 4]. 1, 2007, p. B1 (describing racial issues in Seattle schools). State laws or administrative policies, directed toward the reduction and eventual elimination of de facto segregation of children in the schools and racial imbalance, have been approved by every high State court which has considered the issue. Dist. aspx? 2d 304, and yet in Seattle several alternative assignment plansmany of which would not have used express racial classificationswere rejected with little or no consideration. See Part IB, supra. Both districts faced problems that reflected initial periods of severe racial segregation, followed by such remedial efforts as busing, followed by evidence of resegregation, followed by a need to end busing and encourage the return of, e.g., suburban students through increased student choice. 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. The upshot is that these plans specific features(1) their limited and historically-diminishing use of race, (2) their strong reliance upon other non-race-conscious elements, (3) their history and the manner in which the districts developed and modified their approach, (4) the comparison with prior plans, and (5) the lack of reasonably evident alternativestogether show that the districts plans are narrowly tailored to achieve their compelling goals. I join Part IIIC of the Courts opinion because I agree that in the context of these plans, the small number of assignments affected suggests that the schools could have achieved their stated ends through different means. Assertions of general societal discrimination are plainly insufficient. 2002). 2d, at 370. 10226e3(b) (1999). [Footnote 21] The dissent argues that weight [must be given] to a local school boards knowledge, expertise, and concerns, post, at 48, and with equal vigor, the segregationists argued for deference to local authorities. The practice can lead to corrosive discourse, where race serves not as an element of our diverse heritage but instead as a bargaining chip in the political process. The school district met its percentage goals by assigning to the new mixed school an appropriate number of black housing blocks and white housing blocks. In this Courts finest hour, Brown v. Board of Education challenged this history and helped to change it. Roberts cites Adarand, supra, at 227, 115 S. Ct. 2097, 132 L. Ed. This sometimes leads to a disparity in resources and academic achievement between school districts. 3313.98(B)(2)(b)(iii) (Lexis Supp. Id., at 240 (Thomas, J., concurring in part and concurring in judgment) (As far as the Constitution is concerned, it is irrelevant whether a governments racial classifications are drawn by those who wish to oppress a race or by those who have a sincere desire to help those thought to be disadvantaged). in Brown I, p. 7 (Robert L. Carter, Dec. 9, 1952). See Beard v. Banks, 548 U. S. ___, ___ (2006) (Thomas, J., concurring in judgment) (noting that two were killed and hundreds were injured in race rioting subsequent to this Courts decision in Johnson). Educational Research 531, 550 (1994) (hereinafter Wells & Crain). School districts that had engaged in de jure segregation had an affirmative constitutional duty to desegregate; those that were de facto segregated did not. As a consequence, this separate opinion is necessary to set forth my conclusions in the two cases before the Court. in No. There is also evidence that black students attending historically black colleges achieve better academic results than those attending predominantly white colleges. Transfers may be requested for any number of reasons, and may be denied because of lack of available space or on the basis of the racial guidelines. The Washington Supreme Court ruled that the Seattle School Districts use of race was valid under the state constitution. When the court made this determination in 2000, it did so in the context of the Louisville desegregation plan that the board had adopted in 1996. Thomas, J., filed a concurring opinion. at 1166. Furthermore, it was only used in a limited number of schoolsthose that were both over subscribed and relatively unintegrated. 2002). 1", Learn how and when to remove this template message, Guidance on the Voluntary Use of Race to Achieve Diversity and Avoid Racial Isolation in Elementary and Secondary Schools, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, McFarland v. Jefferson County Public Schools, Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education, Green v. County School Board of New Kent County, "PARENTS INVOLVED IN COMMUNITY SCHOOLS V. SEATTLE: THE END OF RACE BASED SCHOOL POPULATIONS", "Schools Are More Segregated Today Than During the Late 1960s", "PARENTS INVOLVED IN COMMUNITY SCHOOLS v.SEATTLE SCHOOL DIST. While the Court does not suggest that greater use of race would be preferable, the minimal impact of the districts racial classifications on school enrollment casts doubt on the necessity of using such classifications. See Wygant v. Jackson Bd. NO. Indeed, the very school districts that once spurned integration now strive for it. To that end, in 2011, the U.S. Department of Education and U.S. Department of Justice jointly issued Guidance on the Voluntary Use of Race to Achieve Diversity and Avoid Racial Isolation in Elementary and Secondary Schools, acknowledging the flexibility that school districts have in taking proactive steps to meet the compelling interests of promoting diversity and avoiding racial isolation within the parameters of current law.[7]. In such cases, race-based remedial measures are sometimes required. See id., at 494 (The impact [of segregation] is greater when it has the sanction of the law). For Brown held out a promise. See Appendix A, infra. Just as the school districts lack an interest in preventing resegregation, they also have no present interest in remedying past segregation. A mixture? Justice Kennedy asserts that the dissent must "brush aside two concepts of central importance" to uphold the racial classification in the case. See supra, at 3745. PARENTS INVOLVED IN COMMUNITY SCHOOLS, PETITIONER. in No. Law is not an exercise in mathematical logic. D (collecting citations of state and federal cases [w]hich [e]nunciate the [p]rinciple that [s]tate [l]aws [p]roviding for [r]acial [s]egregation in the [p]ublic [s]chools do not [c]onflict with the Fourteenth Amendment). Such measures may include strategic site selection of new schools; drawing attendance zones with general recognition of neighborhood demographics; allocating resources for special programs; recruiting students and faculty in a targeted fashion; and tracking enrollments, performance, and other statistics by race. (authorizing aid to minority institutions). Similarly, in Zaslawsky v. Bd. 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. Order No. See also Letter from Robert F. Kennedy, of Ed., 72 F.Supp. . Justice Breyers dissent next relies heavily on dicta from Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Bd. Not even the school districts go this far, and for good reason. Regardless of its name, however, the interest at stake possesses three essential elements. 662. 1 ET AL. 2005), online at http://www.seattleschools.org/area/facilties&nbhyph;plan/Choice/05&nbhyph; Thus, Congress has enacted numerous race-conscious statutes that illustrate that principle or rely upon its validity. 10226a. v. Detiege, 358 U. S. 54 (1958) (per curiam) (public parks); Gayle v. Browder, 352 U. S. 903 (1956) (per curiam) (buses); Holmes v. Atlanta, 350 U. S. 879 (1955) (per curiam) (golf courses); Mayor of Baltimore v. Dawson, 350 U. S. 877 (1955) (per curiam) (beaches). Context matters when reviewing race-based governmental action under the Equal Protection Clause. The dissent attempts to buttress the integration interest by claiming that it follows a fortiori from the interest this Court recognized as compelling in Grutter. 1, 551 U.S. 701, 127 S.Ct. Although much depends on the outcome, the rationale of the Court is equally important in this case and to the future policy of public schools. Croson, supra, at 505; Wygant, supra, at 279, n.5 (plurality opinion). Sociological Rev. 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. 1, 458 U. S. 457, 472, n. 15 (1982). The Constitution is not that malleable. The present cases are not governed by Grutter. Other studies have found that both black and white students who attend integrated schools are more likely to work in desegregated companies after graduation than students who attended racially isolated schools. See, e.g., Eisenberg v. Montgomery Cty. See North Carolina Bd. See Brief of the States of New York, Connecticut, Illinois, Iowa, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Missouri, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Utah, Vermont, Washington, Wisconsin, the District of Columbia, and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico as Amici Curiae in Support of Respondents at 11. 1 Complaint in Adams v. Forbes Bottomly, Civ. 1922). The Court's ruling in the "Parents Involved in Community Schools" v. "Seattle School District No. Brief for Petitioner at 3637. of Springfield v. Board of Ed., 362 Mass. The Grutter Court expressly limited its holdingdefining a specific type of broad-based diversity and noting the unique context of higher educationbut these limitations were largely disregarded by the lower courts in extending Grutter to the sort of classifications at issue here. 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. It added that the fact that a law treats [a person] unequally because of his or her race . In most cases, there either will or will not have been a state constitutional amendment, state statute, local ordinance, or local administrative policy explicitly requiring separation of the races. 1 Hampton v. Jefferson Cty., Bd. Racial imbalance is not segregation. Accord, post, at 22 ([T]he Court set forth in Swann a basic principle of constitutional lawa principle of law that has found wide acceptance in the legal culture (citations and internal quotation marks omitted)); post, at 25 (Lower state and federal courts had considered the matter settled and uncontroversial even before this Court decided Swann); post, at 26 (Numerous state and federal courts explicitly relied upon Swanns guidance for decades to follow); post, at 27 (stating how lower courts understood and followed Swanns enunciation of the relevant legal principle); post, at 30 (The constitutional principle enunciated in Swann, reiterated in subsequent cases, and relied upon over many years, provides, and has widely been thought to provide, authoritative legal guidance); post, at 61 ([T]odays opinion will require setting aside the laws of several States and many local communities); post, at 66 (And what has happened to Swann? Although we examine the plans under the same legal framework, the specifics of the two plans, and the circumstances of Oral Arg. B1, B5. However, the District applied for a rehearing before the full court of 12 judges. Given the conditions in which school boards work to set policy, see supra, at 2021, they may need all of the means presently at their disposal to combat those problems. 1 C. Schmid & W. McVey, Growth and Distribution of Minority Races in Seattle, Washington, 3, 79 (1964); F. Hanawalt & R. Williams, The History of Desegregation in Seattle Public Schools, 19541981, pp. CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT No. The board responded to the lawsuit by introducing a plan that required race-based transfers and mandatory busing. 05915, at 7 (quoting McFarland I, supra, at 842).