Does the Chief Justice Understand Brown v. Topeka?

M. J. Rosenberg condemns the Supreme Court decision in PARENTS INVOLVED IN COMMUNITY SCHOOLS v. SEATTLE SCHOOL DISTRICT NO. 1:

This week has been a Supreme Court horror show. Today’s decision, which comes close to overturning Brown vs. The Board of Ed, is about as horrific decision as any the Court has made since Plessy vs. Ferguson. Hillary Clinton has it exactly right when she says, “Today, the Court turned its back on the promise of Brown vs. Board of Education that students of different racial backgrounds deserve an opportunity to attend school together. At a time when our nation’s schools are increasingly resegregating, we should be championing local efforts to pursue integration and reduce racial inequities in schools.” Instead, the Roberts court is trying to turn the clock back to 1953.

ThinkProgress has more including much of the strained logic of Chief Justice Roberts. While Justice Breyers pens “the promise of Brown”, the Chief Justice tries to defend the majority opinion on the basis of Brown. But Justice Stevens rebuts:

The Chief Justice fails to note that it was only black schoolchildren who were so ordered; indeed, the history books do not tell stories of white children struggling to attend black schools. In this and other ways, the Chief Justice rewrites the history of one of this Court’s most important decisions.

Let’s make the reasonable assumption that the Chief Justice is not stupid enough to realize what Justices Breyers and Stevens wrote is exactly right. His feeble attempt to defend this decision must then be seen as sheer mendacity. Alas – the most dishonest President in my lifetime has appointed a fellow liar to be the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.