Legal Momentum Decries Supreme Court Rulings on Desegregation Cases

June 28, 2007 -

 

Legal Momentum joins with hundreds of other civil rights organizations and decries today's Supreme Court decision in Meredith v. Jefferson County Board of Education and Parents Involved in Community Schools v. Seattle School District. In a 5-4 ruling, with Chief Justice Roberts writing the majority decision and Justice Kennedy joining in the judgment, the Supreme Court declared that programs voluntarily undertaken by two public school districts to maintain desegregation (Louisville and Seattle) are unconstitutional.

Legal Momentum President Kathy Rodgers issued the following statement:

"The Court's decision today severely impairs the ability of local school districts to use their best efforts to fulfill the promise of Brown v. Board of Education: an equal education for all students regardless of their race. There was no time limit on that promise. Today's decision hampers the good faith efforts of school districts to embrace the increasing diversity of our communities and place students on the strongest and best educational footing."

Legal Momentum Vice President for Government Relations, Lisalyn R. Jacobs, said:

"Though the Bush Administration and its Supreme Court appointees Chief Justice Roberts and Justice Alito fail to appreciate the significance of and continued necessity for race conscious approaches in the context of education, we do not, and we are grateful that five Justices, including Justice Kennedy, did not. A racially integrated education yields opportunity for everyone. The social science data is clear on this point: racially integrated schools lead us to the promise of Martin Luther King's dream that we be judged by the content of our character, not the color of our skin. They reduce housing segregation, while improving academic and social outcomes for all. The Court's decision, though in key respects disappointing, does not close the door on the appropriate use of race conscious remedies in the future."

The majority decision shows a lack of respect for both the precedent, and the promise of Brown. This Court's most recent decision represents a further blow to civil rights gains made over the last five decades.

For more information, please contact Lisalyn R. Jacobs, Vice President for Government Relations
(202) 326-0043 / ljacobs@legalmomentum.org