Why did the Supreme Court strike down the racial diversity plans?
The court’s conservative majority found that plans in Seattle and Louisville that considered race when assigning students to schools went too far to achieve racial diversity. In announcing the 5-4 decision, which split the court along ideological lines, Chief Justice John Roberts said the districts “failed to show that they considered methods other than explicit racial classifications to achieve their stated goals.” Justice Stephen Breyer wrote a dissent that was joined by the court’s three other liberal justices. In a concurring opinion, Justice Anthony Kennedy agreed that the Seattle and Louisville plans went too far. But Kennedy would not go as far as the other court conservatives, who suggested that race may almost never be considered as a factor. Instead, Kennedy said race may be a component of school plans designed to achieve diversity. To the extent that Roberts’ opinion could be interpreted as foreclosing the use of race in any circumstance, Kennedy wrote, “I disagree with that
