Background/Context: In "Milliken v. Bradley" (1974), the U.S. Supreme Court deemed unconstitutional a metropolitan-wide desegregation plan in Detroit that sought to achieve racial balance in part by busing white suburban students to the city's majority black schools. In a stark departure from "Brown v. Board of Education of…

This article reports on a U.S. Supreme Court decision that struck down two voluntary school-integration plans in a 5-to-4 ruling issued last week. Its decision left solidly intact its precedents dealing with affirmative action in higher education. Rather than signaling any clear desire to revisit its past decisions on race-conscious admissions…

The U.S. Supreme Court provided evidence that its membership had shifted to be more critical of affirmative action as it heard oral arguments last week in two cases involving the race-based assignment of students to public schools. Although the court did not exhibit any desire to reconsider its stand on affirmative action in higher education, the…