Posted on 03/15/2005 7:01:54 PM PST by MTBNate
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit has ruled that a Louisiana school district's magnet school's admission policy, which takes an applicant's race into account as a factor, violates white applicants' equal protection rights, despite the fact that the district is under a desegregation consent decree. Caddo Parish School Board's (CPSB) admission policy for Caddo Middle Magnet School (CMMS) uses racial classifications to achieve racial balance. The policy sets initial qualifications that all applicants must meet to be considered for admission. Out of all applicants who satisfy the initial qualifications, priority is given to siblings of current CMMS students and African-American applicants who would otherwise attend a school with over 90% African-American enrollment. All other qualified applicants are ranked by their standardized test scores. CMMS maintains separate rankings for white and African-American applicants so that it can achieve a racial mix of 50% white and 50% African-American students, plus or minus 15 percentage points. Hunter Cavalier, a white applicant for admission to the sixth grade, satisfied the initial qualifications, but he was rejected based on his standardized test score. Although Hunter's score was below the cutoff for white applicants, his score was higher than those of African-American applicants admitted on the basis of test scores. His parents sued, alleging that the admissions policy violates the Fourteenth Amendment's Equal Protection Clause. The district court granted CPSB's motion to dismiss the suit on the ground that CPSB was still subject to a 1981 consent decree to desegregate its school system. The Fifth Circuit reversed the district court. The appeals court noted that the use of racial classifications made the admissions policy subject to strict judicial scrutiny, under which a school board must have a compelling governmental interest for using a race conscious admissions policy and must employ a policy narrowly tailored to achieve that interest. Addressing the compelling interest component of the strict scrutiny test, the court concluded that remedying the current effects of past segregation could not serve as a compelling governmental interest, because a 1990 federal court order terminated the consent decree as it applied to magnet schools. The Fifth Circuit noted that CPSB had relied solely on the 1981 consent decree to justify the use of racial classifications and had asserted no other compelling governmental interests, such as diversity. In a footnote the court noted that the U.S. Supreme Court had upheld diversity as a compelling interest in post-graduate education in Grutter v. Bollinger, 539 U.S. 306 (2003), but indicated that "it is by no means clear that [diversity] could be such at or below the high school level." The court also asserted that it was unlikely CMMS's admissions policy would pass constitutional muster under Gratz v. Bollinger, 539 U.S. 244 (2003). As for the "narrowly tailored" component of the strict scrutiny test, the court concluded that the admissions policy would fare no better than it did under the compelling interest component, because CPSB failed to consider the use of race-neutral alternatives and because its policy was essentially a quota.
Cavalier v. Caddo Parish School Board, No. 03-30395 (5th Cir. March 1, 2005)
Link to opinion: http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/data2/circs/5th/0330395p.pdf
http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&rls=GGLD,GGLD:2004-45,GGLD:en&q=caddo+middle+magnet+5th+court
Another one for the Supreme Court. Are we a nation of individual rights or group rights?
If the answer is group rights, what group should I be lobbying for to ensure my kids are given the opportunity they deserve?
I used to coach wrestling at Parkway, years ago. Lived in Bossier City for 6 years.
How has the area changed. I haven't been around there since '91, but I did meet a few friends in Shreveport for the 1996 election.
Knowing how it was going to turn out, we just went out and shot skeet.
Well, for one hing new homes in Golden Meadows subdiv are going for $105/sf.
It is almost solid subdiv's from Airline High to Benton.
SE Shreveport is booming like mad too...
I can't believe it! When I moved there in 1985, I was determined to be a millionaire by 30. I knew the way to do it was through Real Estate.
The first home I bought (3 br 2 bth, 2 car grg) I didn't even live in. I was going to make a mint!
Then oil went to $10 a barrel. More than every third house went up for sale. I never had a renter complete a lease, I was always evicting and going to court, and a guy killed his wife in my home.
I lost my butt and gave up on Real Estate, but look at how it's done most of the time since (especially here in DC). Oh well, I found I could lose just as much in the stock market, so I guess it all balances out.
By the way, I lived on Longstreet Place.
Last year I was renting a house in the 5600 block of Longstreet Pl for $900/month. It was a 3-bdr 1200 sf... that house sold for $112k this past Dec.
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