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Minutes after the U.S. Supreme Court voted 5-4 Thursday to limit the consideration of race in school integration plans, Berkeley Unified School District superintendent Michele Lawrence said that she hoped Berkeley public schools would stand the test and become a model for other schools. 

The Court rejected diversity plans from Seattle and Louisville, Ky. because they had failed to justify “the extreme means they have chosen—discriminating among individual students based on race by relying upon racial classifications in making school assignments.” 

“It’s still a bit early for us to interpret the court’s ruling,” Lawrence told the Planet, “but on the surface we hope that the school district would stand the test of time.” 

“The ruling went against Seattle and Kentucky, but the assignment system in Berkeley is not based on their model. Our assignment system does not take into account an individual’s race but rather a category based on where they live. Therefore it is a blind system.” 

Sacramento-based Pacific Legal Foundation (PLF) sued Berkeley Unified on behalf of the American Civil Rights Foundation in October, charging it with violating California’s Proposition 209 by racially discriminating among students during placements at elementary schools and in programs at Berkeley High. 

The lawsuit alleged that BUSD “uses race as a factor to determine where students are assigned to public schools and to determine whether they gain access to special educational programs.” 

The district emerged victorious in the lawsuit when the Alameda County Superior Court ruled in favor of the school district in April. 

In his ruling, the judge stated that the student assignment system applied by BUSD’s elementary schools was legal and that its integration system was fair. 

The assignment system in BUSD lets parents register their first, second and third school choices, and then a computer lottery gives the final placement. The lottery takes into account factors such as race, ethnicity, student background and parental income and education.  

PLF said that they would appeal the decision. The case is still open. 

Reactions about Thursday’s Supreme Court ruling were positive for Berkeley Unified. 

“I don’t think the decision will jeopar-dize what Berkeley Unified has tried to do so far,” said Goodwin Liu, Professor at UC Berkeley's School of Law (Boalt Hall). 

“The controlling opinion by Chief Justice John G. Roberts leaves room for the type of approach Berkeley Unified is trying. It leaves open several avenues for race-conscious measures to achieve integration, including strategic-attendance zoning as well as magnet schools and special programs. The upshot is that the court has sent school districts literally back to the drawing board to devise creative assignment plans to integrate our public schools.” 

Liu added that it was remarkable that the Chief Justice of the United States cited the historic decision in Brown vs. Board of Education—which prohibits segregation in public schools—to defeat, not defend, school integration. 

Congresswoman Barbara Lee condemned the decision. 

“Today's shocking decision undermines the commitment to equality in education that was spelled out in the Brown vs. The Board of Education decision, and threatens to turn the clock back on half a century of advances in racial equality in education,” she said in a statement.