An interesting case is currently being heard at the US Supreme Court this week. It concerns racial integration or diversity. At the NYT:
WASHINGTON, Dec. 4 — By the time the Supreme Court finished hearing arguments on Monday on the student-assignment plans that two urban school systems use to maintain racial integration, the only question was how far the court would go in ruling such plans unconstitutional.
There seemed little prospect that either the Louisville, Ky., or Seattle plans would survive the hostile scrutiny of the court’s new majority. In each system, students are offered a choice of schools but can be denied admission based on their race if enrolling at a particular school would upset the racial balance.
At its most profound, the debate among the justices was over whether measures designed to maintain or achieve integration should be subjected to the same harsh scrutiny to which Brown v. Board of Education subjected the regime of official segregation. In the view of the conservative majority, the answer was yes.
The Wall Street Journal summarized the camps in the case:
The fundamental dispute is whether antidiscrimination laws–the 14th Amendment and, by implication, the Civil Rights Act of 1964–ban discrimination altogether, or only in the pursuit of invidious ends. Broadly stated, the “conservative” position is that these laws protect individuals from discrimination, whereas the “liberal” position is that discrimination is fine in the pursuit of “diversity” or integration but not of white supremacy.
It’s becoming tougher for me to decide which is right and which is wrong. The black and white are merging.
Regardless, this case is almost similar to the Michigan case.
