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The Integration Decision

What’s next for educators, and for society, after the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling?

By Gary Orfield & Erica Frankenberg

When the U.S. Supreme Court, in June of last year, suddenly decided after the appointment of Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. to take two school desegregation cases very similar to one from Massachusetts it had shortly before refused to review, some experts predicted a decisive shift, one that would perhaps even undermine the 2003 decision in Grutter v. Bollinger , a higher education case that left intact affirmative action precedents.

In late June of this year, after waiting until the last day of the term to render its decision in cases reviewing race-conscious student-assignment plans in Seattle and Jefferson County, Ky., the court sent a muddled message. Four justices disputed four other justices on almost everything, including the very basic meaning of Brown v. Board of Education , while one generally conservative judge, Anthony M. Kennedy, agreed in part with each group and determined what the U.S. Constitution means in this area, at least until the Supreme Court speaks again. ( "Use of Race Uncertain for Schools," July 12, 2007.)

The debate among lawyers about the legal origin and reasoning of these three opinions—majority, concurring, and dissenting—will go on and on. In the meantime, school people need to know what they can and cannot do, since the decision has outlawed most of the existing plans in districts not now under a court order, and has not clearly spelled out answers to the most important...