“Today’s U.S. Supreme Court decisions in Parents Involved in Community Schools Inc. v. Seattle School District and Meredith v. Jefferson County (Ky.) Board of Education are cause for real concern.  Although we are relieved that a narrow majority of the Court said that communities can continue to pursue race-conscious measures to promote diversity and avoid racial isolation, they have clearly set the bar high — unreasonably so — in terms of which measures will be upheld.  We believe that the Seattle and Louisville programs were sound and beneficial, and should have been allowed to continue. 

Our nation is better off when strong integration and anti-discrimination measures are in place, and they are at risk today.  Our concerns about this Supreme Court are grave and growing.  It has issued terribly harmful rulings in cases involving reproductive choice and fair pay, and today it struck down two sound equal educational opportunity programs.  In each case, President Bush’s appointees carried the day, and America lost.  It is more clear than ever that America needs a President who will appoint, and a Senate that will confirm, only those justices and judges with a deep commitment to equal rights.”