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PARENTS INVOLVED IN COMMUNITY SCHOOLS v. SEATTLE SCHOOL DISTRICT NO. 1
| Issue: |
Whether a public school district may assign students to high school on the basis of their race for the alleged purpose of achieving diversity?
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| Plaintiff: |
Parents Involved in Community Schools
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| Defendants: |
Seattle School District No. 1, and various entities and officials
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| Amicus Curiae: |
Mountain States Legal Foundation
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| Court: |
U.S. Supreme Court (No. 05-908)
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| Status: |
On June 28, 2007, the Supreme Court issued a 5-4 decision in favor of the students and parents. Chief Justice Roberts authored the majority decision, in which he wrote, “The way to stop discrimination on the basis of race is to stop discriminating on the basis of race.” In a concurring opinion, Justice Thomas wrote, “[A]s a general rule, all race based government decisionmaking--regardless of context--is unconstitutional.”
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| Next Event: |
None
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| History: |
In 1998, the Seattle School District began allowing students to decide what high school they wished to attend if there were space available. In the event the school did not have sufficient room, the district utilized “tiebreakers,” one of which was to make an assignment on the basis of race in order to achieve what the district believed is the proper racial balance. A group of parents filed a federal lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the district plan. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, relying on the Supreme Court’s 5-4 ruling in Grutter v. Bollinger, which upheld the use of race by the University of Michigan Law School to achieve diversity, approved the Seattle program. On June 5, 2006, the Supreme Court agreed to review that ruling.
On August 21, 2006, MSLF filed its brief in support of the petitioner. On October 10, 2006, the Seattle School District No. 1 filed its response. Oral arguments took place on December 4, 2006.
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