Supreme Court Issues Decision in School Race Cases-- Roundup

-Click HERE for a copy of the Supreme Court's decision in the school race cases, issued this morning. Please visit us throughout the day for responses to the opinion and analysis of what it means for the future of school integration in America.

-The Associated Press, in the NYT, offers a preliminary description of the ruling here.

-The NAACP Legal Defense Fund has a website devoted to school integration, with a resource center, links to legal documents, and more.

-Below, you will find links to background information on these cases and school integration generally:

• Seattle - Louisville Briefing Paper


• Louisville Fact Sheet


• Seattle Fact Sheet


• Race-Neutral Alternatives Fact Sheet


• State of Segregation


• Social Science Findings on School Integration


• Voluntary K-12 School Integration Manual

-To send us a post, email scblogger@gmail.com

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"Tearing Brown from its Historical Roots"

In a June 24 LA Times Op-Ed, Edward Lazarus anticipated that, in deciding the school segregation cases, the Court would: "read Brown not as mandating integration, or even as neutral on the point, but as affirmatively prohibiting voluntary measures to achieve integration if they involve race-conscious government action."

With tomorrow's opinion, the very meaning of Brown vs. Board, widely regarded as the most important case of the 20th century, is at stake. Lazarus explains:

"Under Roberts' [likely] reinterpretation of Brown, the decision's central message is that government must be strictly 'colorblind' because all racial classification is inherently pernicious. In this view, there is no legal or moral difference between a school assignment program (like those at issue in Brown) that enforces racial segregation and others (like Seattle's and Louisville's) that are designed to ensure some measure of integration."

Thus, "By flipping Brown from a decision outlawing racial exclusion into one outlawing racial inclusion, it would place the court's powerful moral and legal force behind the idea that the abstraction of colorblindness is of greater constitutional value than the ideal of racial diversity."

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Oral Arguments from Seattle and Louisville: Audio and Transcripts

Supreme Court oral arguments from the Louisville case:
-Transcript
-Audio

Supreme Court oral arguments from the Seattle case:
-Transcript
-Audio

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At Risk: The Power of Local School Districts to Avoid the Harmful Effects of Racial Isolation

A recent article, posted on the American Constitution Society blog, explains how the Supreme Court cases from Seattle and Louisville could undermine local school districts' voluntary efforts to combat segregation.

You can find the article here.

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"Thurgood Marshall Must be Spinning in his Grave"

In a November 29, 2006 Washington Post column ("A Slide Toward Segregation"), Ruth Marcus explained how, "A half-century after Brown v. Board of Education, it's come, amazingly, to this: The Supreme Court, in the name of preventing race discrimination, is being asked to stop local schools from voluntarily adopting plans to promote integration. . . .Thurgood Marshall must be spinning in his grave." To read the column in full, click here.

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"Leaving Integration Behind"

Click here for an article published on TomPaine.com, providing a historical discussion of school desegregation, No Child Left Behind, and the "decades-long good faith efforts of many school districts to promote meaningful integration in their schools."

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Transcript of Century Foundation Discussion on the Future of School Integration

Click here for the edited transcript of a Century Foundation event entitled, "The Future of School Integration: Race, Class, and the U.S. Supreme Court."

• The discussion features: Theodore M. Shaw (Director-Counsel and President, NAACP Legal Defense Fund), Roger Clegg (President and General Counsel, Center for Equal Opportunity), Richard Kahlenberg (Senior Fellow, The Century Foundation), Patt Todd (Director of Student Assignments, Jefferson County Public Schools, Louisville) and Kathy Slobogin (Managing Editor of CNN Presents and Event Moderator).

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Summary of Amicus Briefs in Support of School Districts

Click here for a summary of the 50 amicus briefs filed in support of the school districts in the Seattle and Louisville school integration cases.

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Briefing Paper on Seattle and Louisville Cases

Click here to view the Seattle and Louisville voluntary school integration cases briefing paper.

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