Supreme Court Ruling on School Diversity Not Good, Not Horrible

Five justices, Roberts, Alito, Thomas, Scalia and Kennedy, struck down the specific policies used by the Louisville and Seattle communities. But five justices, Stevens, Breyer, Ginsburg, Souter and Kennedy, also ruled that educational diversity and combating segregation are compelling governmental interests that governments may pursue through careful race-conscious efforts.

The ruling came in Parents Involved in Community Schools v. Seattle School District and Meredith v. Jefferson County Board of Education .

As Kennedy said in his opinion:

School boards may pursue the goal of bringing together students of diverse backgrounds and races through other means, including strategic site selection of new schools; drawing attendance zones with general recognition of the demographics of neighborhoods; allocating resources for special programs; recruiting students and faculty in a targeted fashion; and tracking enrollments, performance, and other statistics by race.

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