Media inquires: Veronique Rodman
vrodman@aei.org (202.862.4870)

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: June 28, 2007

In a 5-4 split decision today, the Supreme Court limited the use of race as a means to achieve diversity in schools. In response to this ruling, AEI visiting fellow Edward Blum, who has been studying the Seattle, Washington, and Jefferson Co., Kentucky, racial balancing cases, said that this decision affirms the great moral lesson of Brown v. Board of Education--there cannot be a dual system of school assignments based on a student’s race or ethnicity.

Blum further noted, "It was unconstitutional in 1954 for the Topeka, Kansas, school board to refuse to allow seven-year-old Linda Brown to attend her neighborhood school because she was the wrong color; and it is just as unconstitutional in 2007 for Jefferson Co., Kentucky, to refuse to allow four-year-old Josh Meredith to attend his neighborhood school because he is the wrong color."

Edward Blum is available to comment on the case and can be contacted at 703.505.1922 or eblum@aei.org.

For additional media inquiries, please contact Veronique Rodman at 202.862.4870 or vrodman@aei.org.