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The Supreme court is going to decide if racial classification based on race, to achieve integration, is constitutional.
My former school district uses a plan like this, like many other districts around the country. It will be interesting to see what the effect on integration will be if the Supreme court decides to rule these plans unconstitutional, which is the position it seems to be leaning towards.
WASHINGTON (AFP) - The Supreme Court heard arguments over how US schools try to promote racial balance, appearing to back the goal of integration but not necessarily the means used to achieve it.
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"There is a terrible problem in the country," said Justice
Stephen Breyer, referring to the lack of racial diversity in the country's public schools.
"The school boards are struggling with this problem. If they knew an easy way, they'd do it," he said.
In 2003, in a 5-4 decision, the justices ruled that universities could take race into account in their admissions criteria to promote racial integration, as long as it was one of many factors and that quotas were not set.
The high court on Monday examined school assignment policies for high schools in Seattle in the Pacific Northwest state of Washington and in elementary schools in Louisville, Kentucky, two cities where whites and blacks live in mostly segregated neighborhoods.
Parents whose children were not able to attend the school of their choice -- due to policies that require a certain racial balance -- have sued their school districts arguing that classifying children based on race is unconstitutional.
Backed by the US government, the plaintiffs also argue that the policy distorts a landmark 1954 Supreme Court decision, "Brown versus Board of Education of Topeka," which barred racial segregation in schools.
Justice
Antonin Scalia, known as a staunch conservative in his views, has often weighed in on the side of the parents opposed to the desegregation policies.
"Even if the objective is OK, you cannot achieve it by any means whatever," Scalia said at the hearing.
But more liberal justices have held that promoting racial balance is an overriding interest.
During the proceedings, dozens of people protested outside the court building in support of programs designed to promote racial integration.
The rules in effect in Louisville are a more moderate version of a mandatory desegregation plan that was imposed by a federal court in 1975 and which expired in 2000.
Justice
Ruth Bader Ginsburg called the situation in Louisville "very odd," with rules once deemed obligatory now being questioned as unconstitutional.
The desegration rules for schools could not be compared to "affirmative action" policies, Justice
David Souter said.
When affirmative action sets quotas by race in order to guarantee diversity, someone of another race necessarily gets bumped. However, Souter pointed out, in the cases before the court, no child was denied an education in the school districts.
The justice who cast the deciding vote in the 2003 case involving racial balance at public universities, Justice
Sandra Day O'Connor, stepped down from the high court last year and has been replaced by a more conservative jurist,
Samuel Alito.
A justice often considered a possible swing vote in many cases,
Anthony Kennedy, displayed a skeptical attitude toward the school districts' approach, saying it could result in racial discrimination.
"You know, it's like saying everybody can have a meal but only people with separate skin can get the dessert," he said.
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"There is a terrible problem in the country," said Justice
Stephen Breyer, referring to the lack of racial diversity in the country's public schools.
"The school boards are struggling with this problem. If they knew an easy way, they'd do it," he said.
In 2003, in a 5-4 decision, the justices ruled that universities could take race into account in their admissions criteria to promote racial integration, as long as it was one of many factors and that quotas were not set.
The high court on Monday examined school assignment policies for high schools in Seattle in the Pacific Northwest state of Washington and in elementary schools in Louisville, Kentucky, two cities where whites and blacks live in mostly segregated neighborhoods.
Parents whose children were not able to attend the school of their choice -- due to policies that require a certain racial balance -- have sued their school districts arguing that classifying children based on race is unconstitutional.
Backed by the US government, the plaintiffs also argue that the policy distorts a landmark 1954 Supreme Court decision, "Brown versus Board of Education of Topeka," which barred racial segregation in schools.
Justice
Antonin Scalia, known as a staunch conservative in his views, has often weighed in on the side of the parents opposed to the desegregation policies.
"Even if the objective is OK, you cannot achieve it by any means whatever," Scalia said at the hearing.
But more liberal justices have held that promoting racial balance is an overriding interest.
During the proceedings, dozens of people protested outside the court building in support of programs designed to promote racial integration.
The rules in effect in Louisville are a more moderate version of a mandatory desegregation plan that was imposed by a federal court in 1975 and which expired in 2000.
Justice
Ruth Bader Ginsburg called the situation in Louisville "very odd," with rules once deemed obligatory now being questioned as unconstitutional.
The desegration rules for schools could not be compared to "affirmative action" policies, Justice
David Souter said.
When affirmative action sets quotas by race in order to guarantee diversity, someone of another race necessarily gets bumped. However, Souter pointed out, in the cases before the court, no child was denied an education in the school districts.
The justice who cast the deciding vote in the 2003 case involving racial balance at public universities, Justice
Sandra Day O'Connor, stepped down from the high court last year and has been replaced by a more conservative jurist,
Samuel Alito.
A justice often considered a possible swing vote in many cases,
Anthony Kennedy, displayed a skeptical attitude toward the school districts' approach, saying it could result in racial discrimination.
"You know, it's like saying everybody can have a meal but only people with separate skin can get the dessert," he said.
My former school district uses a plan like this, like many other districts around the country. It will be interesting to see what the effect on integration will be if the Supreme court decides to rule these plans unconstitutional, which is the position it seems to be leaning towards.
We've moved from "separate but equal" to "integrated but equal"....Teh racism 
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