As in any good theater, the climax comes in the last act. So it was on June 28—the last day of the 2006–2007 term, that the nine robed justices filed onto their stage to reveal their long-awaited decisions in Parents Involved in Community Schools v. Seattle School District No. 1 and Meredith v. Jefferson County (hereafter Seattle/Jefferson County).1
When the Court pronounces on race and education, the attentive public holds its breath. The stakes are enormously high and not only for the institutions affected. We have a collective hope that the judiciary can articulate a constitutional path through the minefield of race relations that has caused so much grief and confusion in this nation’s history. It has proved a difficult task for the Court.
In 1978, the justices decided Regents of the University of California v.
Get access to this article, plus the entire archive, by subscribing.