Bush Administration Opposes Integration Plans
The solicitor general urges the Supreme Court to scrap schools' voluntary programs that exclude some students because of their race.
By David G. Savage, Times Staff Writer
August 25, 2006
WASHINGTON — The Bush administration has urged the Supreme Court to strike down voluntary school integration programs across the nation that exclude some students because of their race.
Administration lawyers filed briefs this week in pending cases from Seattle and Louisville, Ky., on the side of white parents who are challenging "racial balancing" programs as unconstitutional.
The parents say the integration guidelines amount to racial discrimination and violate the Constitution's guarantee of the equal protection of the laws. They lost in the lower courts, but the Supreme Court will hear their appeals in the fall.
In the briefs, U.S. Solicitor General Paul D. Clement urged the justices to rule that "the use of a racial classification to achieve a desired racial balance in public schools" is just as unconstitutional as old-fashioned racial segregation....
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His argument is likely to get a favorable hearing from Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. and his conservative colleagues....
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