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A Constitutional Analysis Of Parents Involved In Community Schools V. Seattle School District No. 1 And Voluntary School Integration Policies, Angelo N. Ancheta

Faculty Publications

On June 28, 2007, a sharply divided United States Supreme Court invalidated student assignment plans in Seattle, Washington and Louisville, Kentucky that were designed to promote racial diversity and to address racial isolation in K-12 education. By a 5-to-4 vote in Parents Involved in Community Schools v. Seattle School District No. I and McFarland v. Jefferson County Board of Education, the Court struck down voluntary integration plans under the "strict scrutiny" standard applied to race-conscious policies challenged under the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, and ruled that the plans were not narrowly tailored to the interests asserted by …