By accepting two appeals on the voluntary use of race in assigning students to public schools, the U.S. Supreme Court will likely decide the constitutionality of widespread practices that school districts use to promote diversity. And the decision could affect schools in unforeseen ways. In both cases, parents of white children have challenged plans that have used race as a factor in assigning students to schools. The justices accepted the two cases on June 5, 2006 for the new term that begins in October. The court's decision to take the appeals involving the Jefferson County, Kentucky, and Seattle school systems means the court "is probably looking at the whole universe of the question of diversity in schools," said Francisco M. Negron, Jr., the general counsel of the National School Boards Association, based in Alexandria, Virginia Sharon L. Browne, a lawyer with the Pacific Legal Foundation, based in Sacramento, California, said, "Together, these cases could put an end to schools' using race as a factor to decide where children can attend public school."