Divided Court Limits Use of Race by School Districts

Nor were the plans "narrowly tailored," Roberts wrote, because the districts had not shown they made any other efforts to reach the goal of diversity.

But beyond the cases at hand, Roberts made clear that the conservatives on the court had a much broader concern that such plans violated the equal-protection clause of the 14th Amendment.

"Simply because the school districts may seek a worthy goal does not mean they are free to discriminate on the basis of race to achieve it," Roberts wrote.

Thomas added in a concurring opinion that the dissenters would "constitutionalize today's faddish social theories . . . if our history has taught us anything, it has taught us to beware of elites bearing racial theories."

Breyer said that the conservatives had abandoned the court's precedents and misread Brown. Segregationist policies, Breyer said, didn't simply tell black children where they could go to school but "perpetuated a caste system rooted in the institutions of slavery and 80 years of legalized subordination."

"To invalidate the plans under review is to threaten the promise of Brown," he wrote. "The plurality's position, I fear, would break that promise."

Yesterday's decision does not change the court's previous holding that race can be considered as part of an "individualized, holistic" review of higher education applicants.

Staff writers Darryl Fears and Amit R. Paley contributed to this report.