Chapter 6 exposes the Supreme Court’s acceptance of inequality in educational opportunity as a result of its opinion in San Antonio Independent School District v. Rodriguez. The chapter begins with a detailed examination of Justice Powell’s majority opinion in Rodriguez, which rejected arguments for protecting education as a fundamental right and applying the language of the Equal Protection Clause to treat impoverished Americans as a discrete group. Against this framework, the chapter juxtaposes Justice Marshall’s comprehensive dissent. Later, the chapter examines Plyler, which prohibits the absolute denial of educational access to a discrete group that is covered by the Equal Protection Clause. In addition, the chapter surveys the widespread and growing inequities in funding across school districts - inequities exacerbated by the 2001 No Child Left Behind Act. It also recounts a number of decisions at the state level in which advocates convinced state courts to recognize education as a fundamental right under the constitution of their state, and summarizes the most promising legal routes available to advocates for educational equity.

Chapter 5 examines the shifting landscape of the legal precedents controlling the use of race-conscious admissions policies in higher education. It begins with an in-depth examination of Bakke, which allowed such admissions policies for the sole purpose of pursuing the educational benefits of diversity. The chapter then traces the applications of Justice Powell’s framework announced in Bakke, and includes analyses of Grutter, Gratz, Fisher I, and Fisher II. Taken together, these cases reveal a tenuous adoption of Justice Powell’s approach which serves to prevent a robust pursuit of diversity and racial equity in higher education. The chapter features a discussion of recent ballot measures banning the use of race-conscious admisssions policies in certain states. The Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of these measures in Schutte. The chapter concludes with an examination of Justice Sotomayor’s thought-provoking dissent in Schutte as well as a summary of the proven neuroscientific benefits of a diverse learning environment.