Megan McIlroy, The Examiner
2007-06-29 07:00:00.0
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BALTIMORE -

A U.S. Supreme Court ruling that race can’t be the deciding factor in public school assignments won’t impact Maryland schools much, since a federal circuit court judge handed down a similar decision in 1999.

“This case probably doesn’t change much in the way of policy in Maryland,” said Stephen Bounds, the director of legal and policy services for the Maryland Association of Boards of Education.

In a 5-4 ruling announced Thursday, the Supreme Court said race-based criteria used for school assignments in Louisville, Ky., and Seattle were unconstitutional, a decision that could restrict how public school systems attain racial diversity.

“The way to stop discrimination on the basis of race is to stop discriminating on the basis of race,” Chief Justice John Roberts said.

The ruling drew sharp criticism from U.S. Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md.

“Today’s school integration ruling was a major setback for this nation’s movement toward school diversity,” Cummings said in a statement.

But Bounds said Maryland schools are already in compliance with the decision.

“After the Montgomery County case come down, I’m not aware of any Maryland district that has tried to use race-based assignment criteria,” Bounds said, referring to a 1999 decision by the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

That court ruled in favor of a white student who sued Montgomery County Public Schools after being denied a transfer from a school with mostly minority students, saying the boy was being denied equal protection rights under the Constitution.

In the Supreme Court decision announced Thursday, the court’s four liberal justices dissented from the majority.

Justice Stephen Breyer, in a dissent joined by the other liberals on the court, said Roberts’ opinion undermined the promise of integrated schools that the court laid out 53 years ago in its landmark decision in Brown v. Board of Education.

“To invalidate the plans under review is to threaten the promise of Brown,” Breyer wrote.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.

mmcilroy@baltimoreexaminer.com