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Sunday, November 11, 2007

Courts - "Desegregation Rulings Cause Confusion"

There is a long and very interesting article in the Washington Post today, written by Allen G. Breed of the AP. Some quotes:

Hasn't the U.S. Supreme Court consistently moved away from using race as a factor in deciding where kids should go to school?

Didn't the high court recently put an exclamation point on that trend, ruling that two districts' heavy reliance on race in student assignment policies violated the Constitution's guarantee of equal protection?

Yes, and yes. But there are still hundreds of districts across the country, from the Northeast to the Southwest, that operate under federal court desegregation orders _ some more than four decades old.

These districts are in a unique and sharply debated position with respect to the Supreme Court's rulings. They exist in what critics consider a historical Twilight Zone, where federal judges can make seemingly contradictory decisions.

"So which ruling do I violate?" asks a perplexed Bobby Webb, superintendent of schools in Shelby County, where Memphis is located. "The judge's ruling now, or the earlier rulings that we can't discriminate against people on the basis of the color of their skin?"

Front-page court battles over integration are mostly a thing of the past. But according to the U.S. Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division, there are at least 253 school districts still under federal court supervision in racial inequality cases _ and those are just the ones in which Justice intervened.

Many of the more infamous names _ Boston, Little Rock, Charlotte, N.C. _ are gone from the list, having satisfied judges with their desegregation efforts and being granted what's called "unitary status." In the last two years alone, at least 75 districts have won such status.

Of those that remain, most are in the South. Georgia leads with 61, followed by Mississippi with 51, Alabama with 50 and Louisiana with 30. But long-standing cases are still pending in places like Arizona, Connecticut, Indiana and Illinois.

The question of these districts came up this past year as the Supreme Court heard arguments involving voluntary diversity plans in Seattle and Louisville, Ky.

See also this ILB entry from June 29th headed "5-4 ruling limits use of race by district." that includes quotes on the reaction of Indianapolis Public Schools to the SCOTUS ruling in June.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on November 11, 2007 04:42 PM
Posted to Courts in general