European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - April 13, 1992, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Monday april 13, 1992 the stars and stripes commentary James j. Kilpatric Kletting the Federal judges out of school it Wasny to easy but sensible jurisprudence finally triumphed in a school desegregation Case. On March 31 the . Supreme court at last rediscovered a Cardinal principle that it had mislaid for 38 years a racial balance is not to be achieved for its own  that profoundly obvious conclusion came in a major Case from Dekalb county in suburban Atlanta. Prior to 1969 the county schools were firmly segregated by race. Black children sued. A Federal District judge ordered the school system to get on with desegregation. Years passed. Massive demographic changes occurred. Between 1975 and 1980, an estimated 64,000 Blacks moved into the Southern part of the county. Thousands of Whites moved into Northern precincts. Acting in Good Faith school officials tried busing Magnet schools minority to majority transfers and other devices. Inevitably Many schools reflecting neighbor Hood characteristics became Black or White All Over again. In 1986 the lower court ruled that the county had succeeded in four areas of desegregation transportation physical facilities student assignments and extracurricular activities. These could be removed from the courts supervision. The county had a Way to go in three other areas resource allocation Quality of education and the assignment of teachers and principals. These would continue to be subject to the judges decrees. In a Well reasoned opinion by Justice Anthony Kennedy the supreme court generally affirmed the District courts order. The decision established the important procedural Rule that District judges May Relin Irish their authority piecemeal. Not All seven areas of desegregation must be perfectly achieved at the same time. Schools should be returned to local control area by area As soon As the last lingering vestiges of state sanctioned segregation Are removed. This procedural ruling makes Good sense. Of even greater significance is the supreme courts belated recognition of an elementary truth of constitutional Law. The Constitution prohibits segregation. It does not require integration. The opinion vindicates the late judge John j. Parker of North Carolina whose Clear vision Long ago saw the vital distinction. Regrettably Many District and appellate judges seized upon the misguided notion that integration was the be All and end All. They demanded racial balance school by school Down to the last Decimal Point. Justice Antonin Scalia in his usual incisive Way put the matter succinctly in a concurring opinion. Lower courts had spoken for Many years a was if the Constitution requires such racial balancing. Of course it does  supreme court Justice Harry Blackmun still does not get the Point. In a separate opinion he grumbled that Dekalb county could have done better. A it could have built and closed schools with a View toward promoting integration of both schools and  Bosh the county May have had a moral obligation a to promote integration a but it had no such duty As a matter of Law. Its duty was simply to end segregation. Blackmun spoke of an integrated school system As  such a system he said is a a constitutional  Blackman grows old and thick headed. His opinion of what is sociologically a a desirable is immaterial. Who cares what Harry Blackmun thinks is a a desirable and when he says that integration is a a constitutional imperative a he is Reading into the Constitution something that plainly is not there. Blackmun has a Way of doing that. The High courts majority opinion is welcomed by officials in 17 Southern and Border states but it does not let them off the Hook. If local school boards pull any of the old time shenanigans District judges will not hesitate to reassert their authority. Demographic changes Are bound to produce continuing problems rather in the fashion of which came first the Chicken or the egg. As Blacks or Whites move massively into one area or another new schools must be built to serve them. Questions will arise did the new schools draw the parents or did the presence of the parents require the schools such disputes can be resolved. Last months decision emphasized one Point. It never was intended that Federal judges would function indefinitely As school superintendents. Their Job is  after nearly four decades they should be getting More temporary All the time. C univ Oral press Syndicate Carl Rowan the old smoke filled rooms looking Good Here in Cincinnati in the heartland of America a disturbing number of voters Are saying that they have no heart to face up to this years presidential election. A the old brokered conventions with the smoke filled rooms look mighty Good compared with the choices we now face one businessman told me. He expounded by noting that the president has lost the Confidence and Trust of a majority of americans yet the democratic primaries have delivered Only a couple of challengers whom most americans think Are unworthy of the Job of leading the nation out of serious troubles. A doctor spoke of the Connecticut primary vote with disgust a imagine former California governor Jerry Brown winning. I done to have a single sane patient who thinks Brown ought Ever to be president. Its like fans at a Tennis match they cheer for whoever lost the first set because they want the match to go onto a third set. The votes for Brown had to come from people who wanted to Stop Clinton from Locking up the nomination. They keep hoping some Democrat of towering presence and ability will walk out of the  this physician discerned that those Connecticut democrats who bothered to vote were evenly split on the question of whether Arkansas gov. Bill Clinton has the honesty and integrity to be president. A yes a said 36 percent a no a said 48 percent. The doctor might also have noted that one Republican out of 10 chose to be a a uncommitted rather than vote for president Bush Pat Buchanan or David Duke. A female lawyer raised an interesting Point a suppose we go Back to the smoke filled rooms who of stature and leadership qualities will be in there picking the candidate Tom Foley the House speaker George Mitchell the Senate majority Leader or anyone else from a con Gress whose esteem has sunk lower than a snakes belly a an exclamation Point was added to this comment when sen. Warren b. Rud Mam r-n.h., announced that he will not seek a third six year term this fall because he thinks our government is paralysed. He says that even As a senator he is and would continue to be powerless to do anything about it. A female executive of a Large corporation expressed rage that the president and leaders of Congress cannot a sit sown and break the gridlock and agree on policies and programs that would Benefit the entire nation. There seems no Way to make voters understand that on issues such As whether to give tax Breaks to capital gains investors or Middle class families abortion rights affirmative action anti crime policies and Federal education spending president Bush and the democratic leadership Are dug in beyond Compromise because these emotional issues leave no room for Compromise. A College professor at the University of Cincinnati observed that americans Are dismayed not just by inept leadership and feed the Rich corruption in the Reagan and Bush executive branches not merely by the arrogance greed and institutional ineptitude of the legislative Branch. A the supreme court has been politicized to the Point that it is perceived As the enemy of All but the most privileged americans a he said. So what we have is a deep and dangerous dismay if not contempt on the Art of millions of americans for every ranch of their government. We know that the people Are virtually powerless to change the judicial Branch. What outrages so Many people is their feeling that they will be powerless this year to make the changes so badly needed in the executive branches. Could they be Correct in their fears c North America Syndicate