The following editorial appeared Wednesday in the Miami Herald.

Fifty-two years after the landmark Brown v. Board of Education decision put an end to legal segregation, public schools in America are becoming increasingly resegregated. In fact, more than 70 percent of Hispanic and black students attend largely segregated schools, according to a recent Harvard University study.

Changing this pattern could become even more difficult depending on how the U.S. Supreme Court rules in a case argued Monday. Now that arguments have been presented, prospects don’t look good for getting help from the court. Several justices – including Samuel Alito Jr. and Chief Justice John Roberts – challenged the notion that race could be a factor in determining the school to which a student is assigned.

The cases involved two voluntary school-choice plans used by school districts in Seattle and Louisville, Ky. The Louisville plan was designed to maintain a black enrollment of at least 15 percent but not more than 50 percent in public schools. The Seattle plan sought to match the district’s overall racial background in assigning students to 10 high schools. In both plans, race was one of many factors used in assigning students to a school.

The lawsuits were filed by white parents in each district who didn’t like the initial school assignments of their children. The plans, however, are supported by both school boards and large majorities of parents and residents.

If the court ultimately rejects these plans, as many predict, one consequence would likely be a continuing slide toward school resegregation. The irony of such a result would be stunning. Since the Brown decision, America has come to embrace diversity and a fully integrated society as a bedrock principle from which much good emanates. Diversity in the workplace, in politics, the military, higher education, etc., is considered an asset that strengthens our country by allowing an exchange of ideas, cultures and experiences.

Several court decisions – notably the 1991 ruling that ended federal desegregation plans and a 1974 decision that went against a suburban-desegregation plan – have made it easier for districts to return to segregated classrooms. With a new conservative majority led by Chief Justice Roberts, the Supreme Court seems poised to make any consideration of race in deciding which school a child attends a no-no. Such a single-minded focus on race is not what the 1954 court intended when it ended legal segregation in 1954. That decision sought to make America a better place for everyone by promoting integration, not erecting barriers to it.