High court to revisit schools’ racial guidelines

WASHINGTON – For the first time in a decade, the Supreme Court will revisit the legacy of a landmark: the Brown v. Board of Education decision of 1954 that declared unconstitutional the racial segregation of public schools.

Separate schools for black and white children are “inherently unequal,” Chief Justice Earl Warren said in an opinion that helped launch the civil rights movement.

State-enforced segregation laws are long gone, but for school officials today, a key question remains: Did the historic decision commit them to a policy of seeking integrated schools, or did it tell them not to assign students to a school based on their race?

Today, lawyers in a pair of integration cases will debate whether school boards may use racial guidelines to assign students. Both sides will rely on the Brown decision to make their case.

With the arrival of Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. and Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr., civil rights lawyers believe there may be a five-member majority determined to strike down race-based integration programs.

In Seattle, the school board adopted a policy – now suspended – that gave “nonwhite” students an edge if they sought to enroll in a popular, mostly white high school. In Jefferson County, Ky., which includes Louisville, the school district said black children should make up between 15 percent and 50 percent of the enrollment at each elementary school.

In both cities, several white parents sued to have the plans declared unconstitutional after their children were barred from enrolling in the school of their choice because of race. Although they lost in the lower courts, the Supreme Court voted in June to hear their appeals, leading many to predict the justices are poised to outlaw “racial balancing” in the public schools.

Bush administration lawyers, who joined the case on the side of the parents, say the Brown decision sought to move the United States toward a color-blind policy. They say school officials may not open or close the door to particular students solely because of race.

A ruling in favor of the parents could have broad effect. Hundreds of U.S. school districts are said to use racial guidelines in at least some of their schools.

A decision before spring is unlikely.