School officials and traditional civil rights groups decried the U.S. Supreme Court鈥檚 ruling today overturning policies intended to diversify student enrollments in the Jefferson County, Ky., and Seattle school districts. Meanwhile, others hailed the decision as a victory for those who say such initiatives create reverse discrimination.
One of Washington鈥檚 most powerful Democrats called the decision 鈥渁ppalling.鈥� 鈥淭oday鈥檚 decision turns Brown [v. Board of Education] upside down and ignores decades of constitutional history,鈥� Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid that overturned segregation in public schools. 鈥淚f this isn鈥檛 judicial activism, I don鈥檛 know what is.鈥�
People for the American Way, a liberal activist group, called the decision and take seriously the importance of diversity.鈥�
The other side of the political spectrum celebrated. , a project of the Competitive Enterprise Institute, which advocates free markets.
The Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank, . 鈥淭hat public institutions cannot be allowed to sort children based on race is consistent with the [U.S.] Constitution, was clearly established in Brown v. Board, and simply makes sense as a matter of justice. And it is good to see the court doing what it should in education, especially after so many years in which it and other federal courts required exactly the kind of racial engineering it prohibited today.鈥�
One supporter of measures to promote integration suggested that the court should not have 鈥渢he last word鈥� on the questions posed in the case. wrote Cassandra Butts, the senior vice president for domestic policy at the Center for American Progress, a Democratic-leaning think tank.
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The Campaign to Restore Civil Rights, a coalition of groups that support efforts to diversify schools and other public institutions, said . The campaign highlighted the winner of its recent essay contest, Jody Leung, who wrote: 鈥�Brown v. Board of Education paved the way for integration and the civil rights movement鈥� and 鈥渕ade America a better place. 鈥� The time is now and we must encourage racial integration in classrooms.鈥�
Shades of Gray
On the well-respected Scotusblog, lawyer Tom Goldstein in some school assignments. Justice Kennedy joined with four justices to form a majority saying that Seattle and Jefferson County, which includes Louisville, put too much emphasis on race in their school assignments. But the justice鈥檚 reasoning, Mr. Goldstein wrote, suggests that 鈥渢hat school districts may account for race as one factor among many in student placement.鈥�
In its blog, the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund : 鈥淪uch measures may include strategic site selection of new schools; drawing attendance zones with general recognition of neighborhood demographics; allocating resources for special programs; recruiting students and faculty in a targeted fashion; and tracking enrollments, performance, and other statistics by race.鈥�
