Regarding today’s Supreme Court decision limiting school districts’ use of race to achieve integrated schools, my former law professor says:

In thinking about the Seattle Schools case, one would do well to keep Powell’s opinion in Bakke in mind. [Note: Bakke is a 1978 Supreme Court case about the use of affirmative action in university admissions.] At the end of the day, the real story here is not that these plans were struck down, despite what tomorrow’s headlines might say. The real story is that the Court, through Justice Kennedy, approved the careful and considered use of race-conscious measures to achieve integrated schools. The Court, in other words, did not prohibit the use of race, but explained how it could be used.