WASHINGTON, D.C. – In a controversial decision, a narrowly-divided Supreme Court ruled against school choice plans June 28, one of the most recent measures implemented to increase racial diversity in K-12 public schools.
The case addressed two programs in Seattle, Wash., and Louisville, Ky. School officials in Seattle decided to use race as a deciding factor when too many students seek admission to a particular school. Officials in Louisville used a similar strategy to keep African-American enrollment in their schools between 15 and 50 percent.
The court voted 5-4 to outlaw the plans, with Chief Justice John Roberts leading the conservative majority. With him were Justices Samuel Alito, Antonin Scalia, Anthony Kennedy and Clarence Thomas. Kennedy, who served as the swing vote, said that although these two plans were unconstitutional, race could be a factor under some circumstances.
Dissenting Justice John Paul Stevens accused the majority of reversing course and distorting precedents, such as the groundbreaking 1954 case Brown v. Board of Education. Justices David Souter, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Steven Breyer also disagreed with the court’s final ruling.
In 2003, the Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that race could be a factor in university admission. Since then, Bush-appointed conservative Alito took the place of the more moderate Sandra Day O’Connor.
