Breyer Ranks Desegregation Rulings at Top

Judge Stephen G. Breyer on Thursday called two Supreme Court rulings enforcing racial desegregation in the South the most important legal decisions of this century but said it will be “decades before the promise (of fairness to blacks) is eventually kept.”

Breyer’s comments came during a second day of hearings before the Senate Judiciary Committee, in which he skirted most controversies. None of the 18 senators present questioned Breyer sharply and the committee planned to end his testimony today after a closed-door session.

Throughout the hearing, Breyer has characterized himself as a dispassionate judge with middle-of-the-road views. But on issues of civil rights and religion, he responded more forcefully.

Asked to name the three most important Supreme Court rulings of this century, Breyer cited Brown vs. Board of Education in 1954, which said that segregated schools were unconstitutional, and a lesser-known decision, Cooper vs. Aaron of 1958, requiring that black students be admitted immediately to the formerly all-white schools in Little Rock, Ark. Both decisions were based on the 14th Amendment, which says states may not deny to any person “the equal protection of the laws.”

“Why do I say Cooper vs. Aaron?” Breyer asked. “The reason that I think that’s so important is because it means that as a nation these words on paper are not just words on paper. . . . It was a definite, firm commitment to that principle.

“The 14th Amendment added the one thing that was missing, a promise of fairness,” Breyer said. “With Brown (the 1954 ruling), the country decided we will try to keep our promise. It’s hardly surprising . . . given the years of neglect, that it will be decades, decades before that promise is eventually kept. But we’re trying and the trying is absolutely correct.”

Breyer did not name the third ruling but pointed to the dissenting opinions of Justices Oliver Wendell Holmes and Louis D. Brandeis, who urged the court in the 1920s to protect freedom of speech.