Advancing Diverse Learning for Asian Pacific Islanders

Abstract

After a sharply divided United States Supreme Court decided two voluntary school integration cases originating from Seattle, Washington and Louisville, Kentucky on June 28, 2007,' the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund ("AALDEF") 2 and Chinese for Affirmative Action ("CAA") 3-the nonprofit civil rights advocacy groups where the co-authors work-received numerous inquiries about the impact of these cases on Asian Pacific Islanders ("APIs"). While some expressed concern about the dismantling of longstanding integration programs, others were pleased at the prospect that so-called racial preferences thought to discriminate against APIs would be no more. Still others asked whether APIs-who were left out of some integration programs altogether-would be impacted at all. The controversy over the impact of these cases, Parents Involved in Community Schools v. Seattle School District No. 1 ("Parents Involved")