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6 Wake Forest J. L. & Pol'y 157 (2016)
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 and School Desegregation: A Double-Edged Sword

handle is hein.journals/wfjlapo6 and id is 161 raw text is: THE CIVIL RIGHTS ACT OF 1964 AND SCHOOL DESEGREGATION: A DOUBLE-EDGED SWORD? KATYJ. HARRIGERt In Parents Involved in Community Schools v. Seattle School District No. 1, a closely divided Supreme Court (5-4) struck down the voluntary efforts of Seattle, Washington, and Jefferson County, Kentucky, school districts to keep their schools integrated through the use of race as a factor in school assignment decisions.' Notable in the plurality' and dissenting opinions' was sharp disagreement about the meaning of the Brown v. Board of Education decision with respect to racial consideration in school assignment. This heated disagreement about Brown's meaning is in sharp contrast to the unanimity that prevailed on the Court for the first twenty years after the Brown decision. In this paper, I explore the roots of the Court's divide over what Brown means and consider the crucial role that the Civil Rights Act of 1964 played in contributing to this contest over the decision's meaning. I explore the interplay between the Court and national politics in explaining the legal change described above. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 occurred at a critical juncture in this evolution of legal meaning. As the title of this paper implies, there are two different stories that can be told about the importance of the Act to the evolution of desegregation policy-one which cuts in favor of advancing integration, and the other which cuts in favor of limiting the meaning of Brown to simply the absence of laws that segregate. In the first story, the Act gave the Court, as well as integration-minded politicians and federal bureaucrats, the sword they needed to slay the beast of massive resistance and delay in the t Professor, Department of Politics and International Affairs, Wake Forest University 1. Parents Involved in Cmty. Sch. v. Seattle Sch. Dist. No. 1, 551 U.S. 701 (2007). 2. Id. at 708-98. 3. Id. at 798-868. 157

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