Court Opinion

ID: 9428914
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-02 23:25:08.00242+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:23:16.126104
License: Public Domain

*488Justice Powell,
with whom The Chief Justice, Justice Rehnquist, and Justice O’Connor join,
dissenting.
The people of the State of Washington, by a two-to-one vote, have adopted a neighborhood school policy. The policy is binding on local school districts but in no way affects the authority of state or federal courts to order school transportation to remedy violations of the Fourteenth Amendment. Nor does the policy affect the power of local school districts to establish voluntary transfer programs for racial integration or for any other purpose.
In the absence of a constitutional violation, no decision of this Court compels a school district to adopt or maintain a mandatory busing program for racial integration.1 Accordingly, the Court does not hold that the adoption of a neighborhood school policy by local school districts would be unconstitutional. Rather, it holds that the adoption of such a *489policy at the state level — rather than at the local level— violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.
I dissent from the Court’s unprecedented intrusion into the structure of a state government. The School Districts in this case were under no federal constitutional obligation to adopt mandatory busing programs. The State of Washington, the governmental body ultimately responsible for the provision of public education, has determined that certain mandatory busing programs are detrimental to the education of its children. “[T]he Fourteenth Amendment leaves the States free to distribute the powers of government as they will between their legislative and judicial branches.” Hughes v. Superior Court, 339 U. S. 460, 467 (1950). In my view, that Amendment leaves the States equally free to decide matters of concern to the State at the state, rather than local, level of government.
I
At the November 1978 general election, the voters of the State adopted Initiative 350 by a two-to-one majority.2 The Initiative sets forth a neighborhood school policy binding on local school districts. It establishes a general rule prohibiting school districts from “directly or indirectly requiring] any student to attend a school other than the school which is geographically nearest or next nearest the student’s place of residence.” Wash. Rev. Code §28A.26.010 (1981). The rule may be avoided in individual instances only if the student requires special education; if there are health or safety hazards between the student’s residence and the nearest or next *490nearest school; or if the nearby schools are overcrowded, unsafe, or lacking in physical facilities. Ibid.
The Initiative includes two significant limitations upon the scope of its neighborhood school policy. It expressly provides that nothing in the Initiative shall “preclude the establishment of schools offering specialized or enriched educational programs which students may voluntarily choose to attend, or of any other voluntary option offered to students.” §28A.26.050. Moreover, and critical to this case, the authority of state and federal courts to order mandatory school assignments to remedy constitutional violations is left untouched by the Initiative: “This chapter shall not prevent any court of competent jurisdiction from adjudicating constitutional issues relating to the public schools.” §28A.26.060.3
This suit was filed in United States District Court shortly after the Initiative was enacted. The Seattle School District, joined by the Tacoma and Pasco School Districts4 and certain individual plaintiffs, argued that the Initiative violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. The District Court agreed, and, in a split decision, the Court of Appeals affirmed. Relying on Hunter v. Erickson, 393 U. S. 385 (1969), the Court of Appeals concluded that Initiative 350 “both creates a constitutionally-suspect racial classification and radically restructures the po*491litical process of Washington by allowing a state-wide majority to usurp traditional local authority over local school board educational policies.” 633 F. 2d 1338, 1344 (CA9 1980).5
II
The principles that should guide us in reviewing the constitutionality of Initiative 350 are well established. To begin with, we have never held, or even intimated, that absent a federal constitutional violation, a State must choose to treat persons differently on the basis of race. In the absence of a federal constitutional violation requiring race-specific remedies, a policy of strict racial neutrality by a State would violate no federal constitutional principle. Cf. University of California Regents v. Bakke, 438 U. S. 265 (1978).
In particular, a neighborhood school policy and a decision not to assign students on the basis of their race, does not offend the Fourteenth Amendment.6 The Court has never *492held that there is an affirmative duty to integrate the schools in the absence of a finding of unconstitutional segregation. See Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education, 402 U. S. 1, 24 (1971); Dayton Board of Education v. Brinkman, 433 U. S. 406, 417 (1977). Certainly there is no constitutional duty to adopt mandatory busing in the absence of such a violation.. Indeed, even where desegregation is ordered because of a constitutional violation, the Court has never held that racial balance itself is a constitutional requirement. Ibid. And even where there have been segregated schools, once desegregation has been accomplished no further constitutional duty exists upon school boards or States to maintain integration. See Pasadena City Board of Education v. Spangler, 427 U. S. 424 (1976).
Moreover, it is a well-established principle that the States have “extraordinarily wide latitude ... in creating various types of political subdivisions and conferring authority upon them.” Holt Civic Club v. Tuscaloosa, 439 U. S. 60, 71 (1978).7 The Constitution does not dictate to the States a *493particular division of authority between legislature and judiciary or between state and local governing bodies. It does not define institutions of local government.
Thus, a State may choose to run its schools from the state legislature or through local school boards just as it may choose to address the matter of race relations at the state or local level. There is no constitutional requirement that the State establish or maintain local institutions of government or that it delegate particular powers to these bodies. The only relevant constitutional limitation on a State’s freedom to order its political institutions is that it may not do so in a fashion designed to “plac[e] special burdens on racial minorities within the governmental process.” Hunter v. Erickson, 393 U. S., at 391 (emphasis added).
In sum, in the absence of a prior constitutional violation, the States are under no constitutional duty to adopt integration programs in their schools, and certainly they are under no duty to establish a regime of mandatory busing. Nor does the Federal Constitution require that particular decisions concerning the schools or any other matter be made on the local as opposed to the state level. It does not require the States to establish local governmental bodies or to delegate unreviewable authority to them.
Ill
Application of these settled principles demonstrates the serious error of today’s decision — an error that cuts deeply into the heretofore unquestioned right of a State to structure the decisionmaking authority of its government. In this case, by *494Initiative 350, the State has adopted a policy of racial neutrality in student assignments. The policy in no way interferes with the power of state or federal courts to remedy constitutional violations. And if such a policy had been adopted by any of the School Districts in this litigation there could have been no question that the policy was constitutional.8
The issue here arises only because the Seattle School District — in the absence of a then-established state policy— chose to adopt race-specific school assignments with extensive busing. It is not questioned that the District itself, at any time thereafter, could have changed its mind and canceled its integration program without violating the Federal Constitution. Yet this Court holds that neither the legislature nor the people of the State of Washington could alter what the District had decided.
The Court argues that the people of Washington by Initiative 350 created a racial classification, and yet must agree that identical action by the Seattle School District itself would have created no such classification. This is not an easy argument to answer because it seems to make no sense. School boards are the creation of supreme state authority, whether in a State Constitution or by legislative enactment. Until today’s decision no one would have questioned the authority of a State to abolish school boards altogether, or to require that they conform to any lawful state policy. And in the State of Washington, a neighborhood school policy would have been lawful.
Under today’s decision this heretofore undoubted supreme authority of a State’s electorate is to be curtailed whenever a school board — or indeed any other state board or local instrumentality — adopts a race-specific program that arguably benefits racial minorities. Once such a program is adopted, *495only the local or subordinate entity that approved it will have authority to change it. The Court offers no authority or relevant explanation for this extraordinary subordination of the ultimate sovereign power of a State to act with respect to racial matters by subordinate bodies. It is a strange notion — alien to our system — that local governmental bodies can forever pre-empt the ability of a State — the sovereign power — to address a matter of compelling concern to the State. The Constitution of the United States does not require such a bizarre result.
This is certainly not a case where a State — in moving to change a locally adopted policy — has established a racially discriminatory requirement. Initiative 350 does not impede enforcement of the Fourteenth Amendment. If a Washington school district should be found to have established a segregated school system, Initiative 350 will place no barrier in the way of a remedial busing order. Nor does Initiative 350 authorize or approve segregation in any form or degree. It is neutral on its face, and racially neutral as public policy. Children of all races benefit from neighborhood schooling, just as children of all races benefit from exposure to “ ‘ethnic and racial diversity in the classroom.’” Ante, at 472, quoting Columbus Board of Education v. Penick, 443 U. S. 449, 486 (1979) (Powell, J., dissenting).9
Finally, Initiative 350 places no “special burdens on racial minorities within the governmental process,” Hunter v. *496Erickson, supra, at 391, such that interference with the State’s distribution of authority is justified. Initiative 350 is simply a reflection of the State’s political process at work. It does not alter that process in any respect. It does not require, for example, that all matters dealing with race— or with integration in the schools — must henceforth be submitted to a referendum of the people. Cf. Hunter v. Erickson, supra. The State has done no more than precisely what the Court has said that it should do: It has “resolved through the political process” the “desirability and efficacy of [mandatory] school desegregation” where there has been no unlawful segregation. Ante, at 474.
The political process in Washington, as in other States, permits persons who are dissatisfied at a local level to appeal to the state legislature or the people of the State for redress. It permits the people of a State to pre-empt local policies, and to formulate new programs and regulations. Such a process is inherent in the continued sovereignty of the States. This is our system. Any time a State chooses to address a major issue some persons or groups may be disadvantaged. In a democratic system there are winners and losers. But there is no inherent unfairness in this and certainly no constitutional violation.10
IV
Nonetheless, the Court holds that Initiative 350 “imposes substantial and unique burdens on racial minorities” in the governmental process. See ante, at 470. Its authority for *497this holding is said to be Hunter v. Erickson, supra.11 In Hunter the people of Akron passed a charter amendment that “not only suspended the operation of the existing ordinance forbidding housing discrimination, but also required the approval of the electors before any future [antidiscrimination] ordinance could take effect.” 393 U. S., at 389-390. Although the charter amendment was facially neutral, the Court found that it could be said to embody a racial classification: “[T]he reality is that the law’s impact falls on the minority. The majority needs no protection against discrimination.” Id., at 391. By making it more difficult to pass legislation in favor of racial minorities, the amendment placed “special burdens on racial minorities within the governmental process.” Ibid.
Nothing in Hunter supports the Court’s extraordinary invasion into the State’s distribution of authority. Even could it be assumed that Initiative 350 imposed a burden on racial minorities,12 it simply does not place unique political obstacles in the way of racial minorities. In this case, unlike in *498Hunter, the political system has not been redrawn or altered. The authority of the State over the public school system, acting through initiative or the legislature, is plenary. Thus, the State’s political system is not altered when it adopts for the first time a policy, concededly within the area of its authority, for the regulation of local school districts. And certainly racial minorities are not uniquely or comparatively burdened by the State’s adoption of a policy that would be lawful if adopted by any school district in the State.13
Hunter, therefore, is simply irrelevant. It is the Court that by its decision today disrupts the normal course of State government.14 Under its unprecedented theory of a vested *499constitutional right to local decisionmaking, the State apparently is now forever barred from addressing the perplexing problems of how best to educate fairly all children in a multiracial society where, as in this case, the local school board has acted first.15
*500V
We are not asked to decide the wisdom of a state policy that limits the ability of local school districts to adopt — on their own volition — mandatory reassignments for racial balance. We must decide only whether the Federal Constitution permits the State to adopt such a policy. The School Districts in this case were under no federal constitutional obligation to adopt mandatory busing. Absent such an obligation, the State — exercising its sovereign authority over all subordinate agencies — should be free to reject this debatable restriction on liberty. But today’s decision denies this right to a State. In this case, it deprives the State of Washington of all opportunity to address the unresolved questions resulting from extensive mandatory busing.16 The Constitution does not dictate to the States at what level of government de*501cisions affecting the public schools must be taken. It certainly does not strip the States of their sovereignty. It therefore does not authorize today’s intrusion into the State’s internal structure.17

 Throughout this dissent, I use the term “mandatory busing” to refer to busing — or mandatory student reassignments — for the purpose of achieving racial integration.

 The Initiative passed by almost 66% of the statewide vote. In Seattle the Initiative passed by over 61% of the vote. It failed in only two of Seattle’s legislative districts — one predominantly black and one predominantly white.

 Unlike the constitutional amendment at issue in Crawford v. Los Angeles Board of Education, post, p. 527, Initiative 350 places no limits on the state courts in their interpretation of the State Constitution. Thus, if mandatory school assignments were required by the State Constitution— although not by the Fourteenth Amendment of the Federal Constitution— Initiative 350 would not hinder a State from enforcing its Constitution.

 Tacoma School District No. 10 and Pasco School District No. 1 are the only other school districts in Washington with extensive integration programs. Pasco has relied upon school closings and mandatory busing to achieve racial integration in its schools. Only minority children are bused under the Pasco plan. 473 F. Supp. 996, 1002 (WD Wash. 1979). In addition to school closings, the Tacoma integration plan relies upon voluntary techniques — magnet schools and voluntary transfers.

 Judge Wright dissented. In his view Initiative 350 could not be said to embody a racial classification. The Initiative does not classify individuals on the basis of their race. It simply deals with a matter bearing on race relations. Moreover, no racial classification is created because the citizens of a State favor mandatory school reassignments for some purposes but not for reasons of race. The benefits and problems associated with busing for one reason — e. g., for racial integration — are not the same as for another— e.g., to avoid safety hazards. Finally, Judge Wright could not understand how the exercise of authority by the State could create a racial classification. The State had not intervened by altering the legislative process in a way that burdened racial minorities. Charged by the State Constitution with the responsibility for the provision of public education, the State had simply exercised its authority to run its own school system.
Judge Wright also addressed the District Court’s alternative holdings that Initiative 350 is overbroad or that it was motivated by discriminatory intent. He found no basis for either conclusion. These alternative holdings were not addressed by the Court of Appeals majority. Nor are they relied upon by the Court today. Accordingly, they are not discussed in this dissent.

 See Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education, 402 U. S. 1, 28 (1971) (“Absent a constitutional violation there would be no basis for *492judicially ordering assignment of students on a racial basis. All things being equal, with no history of discrimination, it might well be desirable to assign pupils to schools nearest their homes”).
Indeed, in the absence of a finding of segregation by the School District, mandatory busing on the basis of race raises constitutional difficulties of its own. Extensive pupil transportation may threaten liberty or privacy interests. See University of California Regents v. Bakke, 438 U. S. 265, 300, n. 39 (1978) (opinion of Powell, J.); Keyes v. School District No. 1, Denver, Colo., 413 U. S. 189, 240-250 (1973) (Powell, J., concurring in part and dissenting in part). Moreover, when a State or school board assigns students on the basis of their race, it acts on the basis of a racial classification, and we have consistently held that “[a] racial classification, regardless of purported motivation, is presumptively invalid and can be upheld only upon an extraordinary justification.” Personnel Administrator of Massachusetts v. Feeney, 442 U. S. 256, 272 (1979).

 “[Ajccording to the institutions of this country, the sovereignty in every State resides in the people of the State, and . . . they may alter and change their form of government at their own pleasure.” Luther v. Borden, 7 How. 1, 47 (1849). See Community Communications Co. v. *493Boulder, 455 U. S. 40, 53-54 (1982); Sailors v. Board of Education, 387 U. S. 105, 109 (1967) (“Save and unless the state, county, or municipal government runs afoul of a federally protected right, it has vast leeway in the management of its internal affairs”); United States v. Kagama, 118 U. S. 375, 379 (1886) (under the Constitution, sovereign authority resides either with the States or the Federal Government, and “[t]here exist . . . but these two”).

 The Court consistently has held that “the Equal Protection Clause is not violated by the mere repeal of race-related legislation or policies that were not required by the Federal Constitution in the first place.” Crawford v. Los Angeles Board of Education, post, at 538.

 The policies in support of neighborhood schooling are various but all of them are racially neutral. The people of the State legitimately could decide that unlimited mandatory busing places too great a burden on the liberty and privacy interests of families and students of all races. It might decide that the reassignment of students to distant schools, on the basis of race, was too great a departure from the ideal of racial neutrality in state action. And, in light of the experience with mandatory busing in other cities, the State might conclude that such a program ultimately would lead to greater racial imbalance in the schools. See Estes v. Metropolitan Branches of Dallas NAACP, 444 U. S. 437, 451 (1980) (Powell, J., dissenting).

 Cf. James v. Valtierra, 402 U. S. 137, 142 (1971) (“[0]f course a lawmaking procedure that ‘disadvantages’ a particular group does not always deny equal protection. Under any such holding, presumably a State would not be able to require referendums on any subject unless referendums were required on all, because they would always disadvantage some group. And this Court would be required to analyze governmental structures to determine whether a gubernatorial veto provision or a filibuster rule is likely to ‘disadvantage’ any of the diverse and shifting groups that make up the American people”).

 The Court also relies at certain critical points in its discussion on the summary affirmance in Lee v. Nyquist, 318 F. Supp. 710 (WDNY 1970), summarily aff’d, 402 U. S. 935 (1971). As we have often noted, however, summary affirmances by this Court are of little precedential force. See Metromedia, Inc. v. San Diego, 453 U. S. 490, 500 (1981). A summary affirmance “is not to be read as an adoption of the reasoning supporting the judgment under review.” Zobel v. Williams, 457 U. S. 55, 64, n. 13 (1982).

 It is far from clear that in the absénce of a constitutional violation, mandatory busing necessarily benefits racial minorities or that it is even viewed with favor by racial minorities. See Crawford v. Los Angeles Board of Education, post, at 545, n. 32. As the Court indicates, the busing question is complex and is best resolved by the political process. Ante, at 474.
Moreover, it is significant that Initiative 350 places no limits on voluntary programs or on court-ordered reassignments. It permits school districts to order school closings for purposes of racial balance. § 28A.26.030. And it permits school districts to order a student to attend the “next nearest” — rather than nearest — school to promote racial integration.

 The Court repeatedly states that the effect of Initiative 350 is “to redraw decisionmaking authority over racial matters — and only over racial matters — in such a way as to place comparative burdens on minorities.” Ante, at 475, n. 17 (emphasis added). But the decision by the State to exercise its authority over the schools and over racial matters in the schools does not place a comparative burden on racial minorities. In Hunter, as we have understood it, “fair housing legislation alone was subject to an automatic referendum requirement.” Gordon v. Lance, 403 U. S. 1, 5 (1971) (emphasis added). By contrast, Initiative 350 merely places mandatory busing among the much larger group of matters — covering race relations, administration of the schools, and a variety of other matters — addressed at the state level. See n. 15, infra. Racial minorities, if indeed they are burdened by Initiative 350, are not comparatively burdened. In this respect, they are in the same position as any other group of persons who are disadvantaged by regulations drawn at the State level.

 The Court’s decision intrudes deeply into normal state decision-making. Under its holding the people of the State of Washington apparently are forever barred from developing a different policy on mandatory busing where a school district previously has adopted one of its own. This principle would not seem limited to the question of mandatory busing. Thus, if the admissions committee of a state law school developed an affirmative-action plan that came under fire, the Court apparently would find it unconstitutional for any higher authority to intervene unless that authority traditionally dictated admissions policies. As a constitutional matter, the dean of the law school, the faculty of the university as a whole, the university president, the chancellor of the university system, and the board of *499regents might be powerless to intervene despite their greater authority under state law.
After today’s decision it is unclear whether the State may set policy in any area of race relations where a local governmental body arguably has done “more” than the Fourteenth Amendment requires. If local employment or benefits are distributed on a racial basis to the benefit of racial minorities, the State apparently may not thereafter ever intervene. Indeed, under the Court’s theory one must wonder whether — under the equal protection component of the Fifth Amendment — even the Federal Government could assert its superior authority to regulate in these areas.

 Even accepting the dubious notion that a State must demonstrate some past control over public schooling or race relations before now intervening in these matters, ante, at 477, the Court’s attempt to demonstrate that Initiative 350 represents a unique thrust by the State into these areas is unpersuasive. The Court’s own discussion indicates the comprehensive character of the State’s activity. The Common School Provisions of the State’s Code of Laws are nearly 200 pages long, governing a broad variety of school matters. The State has taken seriously its constitutional obligation to provide public education. See Wash. Const., Art. IX, §2; Seattle School District No. 1 v. State, 90 Wash. 2d 476, 518, 585 P. 2d 71, 95 (1978). In light of the wide range of regulation of the public schools by the State, it is wholly unclear what degree of prior concern or control by the State would satisfy the Court’s new doctrine.
In addition to public school affairs generally, the State has taken a direct interest in ending racial discrimination in the schools and elsewhere. See Wash. Rev. Code §49.60.010 et seq. (1981). Article IX, § 1, of the State Constitution specifically prohibits discrimination in public schools: “It is the paramount duty of the state to make ample provision for the education of all children residing within its borders without distinction or preference on account of race, color, caste, or sex.” The State Supreme Court has not interpreted this section of the State Constitution to prohibit race-conscious school assignments in the absence of a violation of the Fourteenth Amendment. Cf. Citizens Against Mandatory Bussing v. Palmason, 80 Wash. 2d 445, 495 P. 2d 657 (1972). But until today’s decision one would have *500thought that the state court could have rendered such a decision without violating the Federal Constitution.

 Responding to this dissent, the Court denies that its opinion limits the authority of the people of the State of Washington and the legislature to control or regulate school boards. It further states that “the State remains free to vest all decisionmaking power in state officials, or to remove authority from local school boards in a race-neutral manner.” Ante, at 480, n. 23. These are puzzling statements that seem entirely at odds with much of the text of the Court’s opinion. It will be surprising if officials of the State of Washington — with the one exception mentioned below — will have any clear idea as to what the State now lawfully may do.
The Court does say that “[i]t is the State’s race-conscious restructuring of its decisionmaking process that is impermissible, not the simple repeal of the Seattle Plan. ” Ante, at 485-486, n. 29. Apparently the Court is saying that, despite what else may be said in its opinion, the people of the State— or the state legislature — may repeal the Seattle Plan, even though neither the people nor the legislature validly may prescribe statewide standards. I perceive no logic in — and certainly no constitutional basis for — a distinction between repealing the Seattle Plan of mandatory busing and establishing a statewide policy to the same effect. The people of a State have far greater interest in the general problems associated with compelled busing for the purpose of integration than in the plan of a single school board.

 As a former school board member for many years, I accept the privilege of a dissenting Justice to add a personal note. In my view, the local school board — responsible to the people of the district it serves — is the best qualified agency of a state government to make decisions affecting education within its district. As a policy matter, I would not favor reversal of the Seattle Board’s decision to experiment with a reasonable mandatory busing program, despite my own doubts as to the educational or social merit of such a program. See Estes v. Metropolitan Branches of Dallas NAACP, 444 U. S., at 438-448 (Powell, J., dissenting). But this case does not present a question of educational policy or even the merits of busing for racial integration. The question is one of a State’s sovereign authority to structure and regulate its own subordinate bodies...