What exactly is the holding of the Supreme Court's Racial Diversity Decision?

Question

I'm an attorney, and I'm scratching my head over this one. 4 Justices (Scalia Thoma Alito and Roberts) seem to say that a public school can NEVER use race as a basis for selecting a child. 4 Justices (Ginsburg Breyer Stevens Souter) seem to say that a community can ALWAYS do this in a reasonable manner. But one Justice (Kennedy) says that a community can SOMETIMES do this if it addresses diversity concerns.

In my community, we have 6 "magnet" elementary schools that you pick from, as a 1st, 2nd or 3rd choice. After all the applications are in, the schools then strive for a diverse student body, by race. It works very well and has diversified all of the schools. Does this meet Justice Kennedy's test? Can anybody really say (except for Justice Kennedy)?

To Margie S. Just to address your concerns, in our magnet school system, probably 90% of the curriculum is identical. Each school then emphasizes a certain "theme" (eg science, geography, environment, etc.) which attracts kids and families interested in that particular subject. That actually leads to much more diversity than just having kids go to the closest public school.

To Seano: Economic (as opposed to racial) diversity is fine by me! But all I'm really trying to ask is what does the opinion really hold given what Justice Kennedy is saying.

Answer 1

On NPR the commentator said that race could be considered just not on an individual basis. For instance, a school could set certain guidelines - for instance 50% white, 30% blank, 20% other - but race could not be the determining factor for admission on an individual case basis. Conversely, it could not be the determining factor for not admitting a student. Since individuals make up the statistical base - your right it doesn't make sense. I'm glad I'm not the only confused one.

Answer 2

I think it does, but what does the ruling end up saying the rules are now is what we need to know. Technically, If your community has elected officials who want to play the feel good cater to the minorities diversity game, then they were free to mix and match the student body for a good mix. In my opinion, this is discriminatory against anyone who is not considered a minority, which makes the original law a farce in that, in typical liberal fashion, it violates a right or law to uphold one. The original diversity bill should have been challenged from the first day it was vote into law. It violates basic constitutional principles of law in that as I mentioned above, it violates one persons rights in an attempt to protect anothers rights. This is simply legislated reverse discrimination and is wrong as are/were many similar laws.

Answer 3

What is amazing is that there is a much simpler solution to achieve "racial diversity" that you seem to desire and still make sure it is color blind. What you need to do is try and achieve economic diversity. By trying to balance registrations at schools by parent's income you will provide opportunities to those who are economically disadvantaged and since there is a higher percentage of minorities who are economically disadvantaged they would by default fill those slots. This would also guarantee that poor white kids also were given the same treatment so nobody could say this was a race issue.

Answer 4

>> Does this meet Justice Kennedy's test? <<

Apparently not; if, as you describe it, the board's goal is "racial diversity." You can have cultural, economic, maybe even geographical diversity (Scalia, Alito, Roberts) and add in racial as one element (Kennedy). But to to shoot for solely or even primarily "racial" diversity is no longer permissable.

Answer 5

Why do we have magnet school it seems to me we should want all our kids to be educated the same. If magnet is best make all them magnet teach everyone the same thing ,why all this I want my kid in this school if they are all the same we could solved this problem. Isn't it public money how can you Deny anyone it everyones money? This is like a run away horse. Lets stop and education everyone the same.