IN THE EVER-EVOLVING and convoluted story of affirmative action in the United States, June 28, 2007 will stand out as a paradox. The Supreme Court’s conservative majority managed in one ruling to undermine racial integration in primary and secondary education across the country, twist the milestone civil rights case, Brown v. Board of Education, inside out, but also uphold what little remains of a policy they’ve always opposed—racial preferences in higher education.

The justices struck down two voluntary (as opposed to court-ordered) local plans designed to prevent the resegregation of two public school systems—one in Seattle, Washington and one in Louisville, Kentucky, and its suburbs. [1]