Readers may recall that one of Eric Holder’s many inglorious moments was his attempt to block Louisiana’s school-voucher program, on the grounds that it might somehow lead to less racial balance — and despite the fact that minority students were among the program’s principal beneficiaries. The mechanism that the Obama administration used here was an old desegregation order; there are, unfortunately, a lot of these old orders still out there, and they can be used for all kinds of politically correct mischief.

The Supreme Court has made clear that, once a school system has been desegregated, control should be returned to the local authorities, who of course remain bound by the Fourteenth Amendment but who also ought to be able to try innovative school-assignment policies designed to help all children, regardless of race. Sadly, though, judges and litigants are too often enervated by inertia and do nothing.

Anyway, Jack Park had an excellent op-ed last week on this topic here, since the issue may be getting some much-deserved attention soon in Alabama.