School Choice, Not an Echo

FOR more than a dozen years, Clint Bolick of the Institute for Justice had dreamed of the day the Supreme Court would hand down a blockbuster verdict on school choice. He’d been litigating the issue for that long, and on the morning of June 27, when the Court was scheduled to rule in Zelman v. Simmons-Harris, Bolick found himself in the shower trying to memorize a short speech—acknowledging defeat.

“I just wanted to be prepared,” he says. As it turned out, Bolick didn’t need the concession speech: In a 5-4 decision, the Court delivered a broad ruling, written by Chief Justice William Rehnquist, saying that school choice is constitutional.

About the Author

John J. Miller

John J. Miller, a former national correspondent for National Review, is the director of the Dow Journalism Program at Hillsdale College. He is the author of A Gift of Freedom: How the John M. Olin Foundation Changed America.

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FOR more than a dozen years, Clint Bolick of the Institute for Justice had dreamed of the day the Supreme Court would hand down a blockbuster verdict on school choice. He’d been litigating the issue for that long, and on the morning of June 27, when the Court was scheduled to rule in Zelman v. Simmons-Harris, Bolick found himself in the shower trying to memorize a short speech—acknowledging defeat.

“I just wanted to be prepared,” he says. As it turned out, Bolick didn’t need the concession speech: In a 5-4 decision, the Court delivered a broad ruling, written by Chief Justice William Rehnquist, saying that school choice is constitutional.

About the Author

John J. Miller

John J. Miller, a former national correspondent for National Review, is the director of the Dow Journalism Program at Hillsdale College. He is the author of A Gift of Freedom: How the John M. Olin Foundation Changed America.