Let's not grasp at straws here. While Kennedy kept the court from definitively shutting the door on school integration, it's clear what direction we're headed.
Standing in the Schoolhouse Door
By Eugene Robinson
Friday, June 29, 2007; A21
It's time for those of us who are old enough to remember when the U.S. Supreme Court was a major force for racial integration and justice to stop living in the past. We need to realize that for the foreseeable future any progress our increasingly diverse country makes toward fairness and equality will come in spite of the nation's highest court, not because of it.
No one should be surprised that the court, as it made clear yesterday, does not consider promoting racial diversity in the nation's public schools to be a particularly worthy goal. No one should be surprised that Chief Justice John Roberts pretends not even to understand the concept: In his majority opinion striking down school integration plans in Seattle and Louisville, Roberts described what the two cities were doing as "racial balancing," even though local officials made clear that their intent was nothing more sinister than racial inclusion.
George W. Bush's packing the court with conservatives is likely to prove one of the more enduring aspects of his unfortunate legacy. Bush appointees Roberts and Samuel Alito have joined Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas in a solid, four-justice bloc that can be reliably counted on, pretty much whatever the issue, to vote for turning back the clock.
That means all they need to do is win the vote of one of the court's more moderate members and, voila, history is unmade. In the schools decision yesterday, Anthony Kennedy sided with the conservative faction to invalidate the integration programs. Kennedy wrote his own opinion, making clear that he does too understand what diversity is, and also why schools might want to foster it -- if they can just figure out how.
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