A Constitutional Analysis of Parents Involved in Community Schools v. Seattle School District No. 1 and Voluntary School Integration Policies

This paper was originally presented at a convening of civil rights advocates and constitutional law scholars on September 6, 2007, sponsored by the Charles Hamilton Houston Institute at Harvard Law School in response to the United States Supreme Court's invalidation of race-conscious student assignment plans in Seattle, Washington and Louisville, Kentucky in Parents Involved in Community Schools v. Seattle School District No. 1. 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 the school districts. The paper examines the Seattle and Louisville cases and discusses their impact on K-12 education and constitutional doctrine. The analysis is divided into three parts. Part I examines the Justices' opinions in Parents Involved in Community Schools and discusses the constitutional boundaries for voluntary race-conscious integration policies established by the Court. Part II discusses the implications of the cases in creating and implementing K-12 policies designed to avoid racial isolation and to promote educational diversity. Part III assesses the impact of the cases on equal protection doctrine and race-conscious policy making more generally.