Press Statement: U.S. Supreme Court Decision Allows Further Progress for Equal Educational Opportunity

We delivered this statement this morning as part of a press conference with a variety of concerned organizations at the Massachusetts State House.

Statement by Carol Rose, Executive Director of the ACLU of Massachusetts

BOSTON - Yesterday's Supreme Court decision on the Seattle and Louisville case neither reversed Brown v. Board of Education nor prohibited measures designed to ensure equality in education. Instead, the Court's decision provides a road map for efforts to desegregate public education so that students of all races can have equal educational opportunities.

Under the Court's 5-4 ruling, voluntary desegregation plans at Massachusetts schools may continue as long as they meet the Court's criteria. Though the Court ruled that school integration plans may not rely solely on racial considerations and must take into account other factors, such as income disparities, a majority of the Supreme Court still recognized that racially diverse schools are a compelling interest of our government. Justice Kennedy agreed to strike down the particulars of the Seattle and Louisville plans, but he agreed with the ultimate goal of using race-conscious means to achieve integration.

The ACLU of Massachusetts is sad, however, that four justices turned a blind eye to continuing racial divisions and inequality in present-day American society, and were largely indifferent to efforts to find a remedy. Massachusetts schools are already more segregated today than they have been in more than a decade, and problems caused by racial disparities plague our state. It is foolish to think that these racial disparities can be addressed without consideration of race. We must continue the work of removing barriers to equality in education.