司法部法律意见：联邦教育援助不得挂钩违宪的种族标准，磁铁学校拨款须过严格审查
美国司法部11月5日宣布，该部法律顾问办公室已出具法律意见，厘清教育部在管理磁铁学校援助计划（Magnet Schools Assistance Program，MSAP）时考虑种族因素的权限边界。意见重申联邦政府长期支持磁铁学校，同时确保联邦援助不以违宪的种族标准为条件。
磁铁学校援助计划是一项联邦竞争性拨款计划，旨在通过资助学区推动自愿消除种族隔离、扩大所有学生的教育机会。司法部表示，该计划的成文法与规章框架把联邦资金与「少数群体隔离」等种族概念、以及利用种族数据影响拨款决定挂钩；由于这些标准使联邦支持以种族考量为条件，该计划必须接受宪法最严格的审查标准——严格审查（strict scrutiny）。
意见指出，在这一标准下，教育部只有在申请人证明其对种族的使用是针对某一具体、已确认的非法歧视个案进行补救、且手段狭义合身（narrowly tailored）时，才能批准磁铁学校援助计划拨款。意见明确，仅以增加种族多样性、减少种族隔离或调整种族平衡为目标、而与补救非法歧视无关的拨款，不得批准。
司法部法律顾问办公室助理司法部长 T. Elliot Gaiser 表示，这份意见重申了宪法秩序的一项基本原则：政府计划必须把个人当作个人对待，而不是种族群体的成员；国会长期认可磁铁学校的价值，但平等保护条款限制联邦政府支持它们的方式，只有在极罕见的情况下，资助决定才可以取决于学校的种族构成。签署该意见的副助理司法部长 Joshua Craddock 表示，磁铁学校援助计划可以继续服务全国学生，但前提是合宪管理，联邦资金绝不能被用来进行违宪的种族平衡。
司法部表示，将与教育部密切合作，确保磁铁学校援助计划的拨款完全符合上述宪法要求，同时继续支持磁铁学校促进学术卓越、创新与教育机会的使命。（来源：美国司法部）
Justice Department Says Federal Education Aid Cannot Be Tied to Unconstitutional Race-Based Criteria
The U.S. Department of Justice announced on November 5 that its Office of Legal Counsel has issued an opinion clarifying the limits on the Department of Education's authority to consider race when administering the Magnet Schools Assistance Program (MSAP). The opinion reaffirms the federal government's longstanding support for magnet schools while ensuring that federal assistance is not conditioned on unconstitutional race-based criteria.
MSAP is a federal grant program designed to promote voluntary school desegregation and expand educational opportunities for students through competitive grants to school districts. The opinion explains that MSAP's statutory and regulatory framework ties federal funding to race-based concepts such as "minority-group isolation" and the use of racial data to shape funding decisions. Because these criteria condition federal support on racial considerations, the opinion concludes that the program must be evaluated under the Constitution's most rigorous standard: strict scrutiny.
Under that standard, the Department of Education may approve MSAP grants only when an applicant demonstrates that its use of race is narrowly tailored to remedy a specific and identified instance of illegal discrimination. The opinion makes clear that grants based solely on goals such as increasing racial diversity, reducing racial isolation, or altering racial balance — untethered from the remediation of unlawful discrimination — cannot be approved.
"Today's opinion reaffirms a foundational principle of our constitutional order: government programs must treat individuals as individuals, not as members of racial groups," said Assistant Attorney General T. Elliot Gaiser of the Office of Legal Counsel. "Although Congress has long recognized the value of magnet schools, the Equal Protection Clause limits how the federal government may lend them support. Only in exceptionally rare circumstances may funding decisions turn on a school's racial composition." Deputy Assistant Attorney General Joshua Craddock, who signed the opinion, said the program can continue to serve students across the country only if it is administered constitutionally, and that federal dollars must never be used to engineer unconstitutional racial balancing.
The Justice Department said it will work closely with the Department of Education to ensure that MSAP awards fully comply with these constitutional requirements while continuing to support the mission of magnet schools: fostering academic excellence, innovation, and meaningful educational opportunities for students across the country. (Source: U.S. Department of Justice)
来源：美国司法部
发布：GSM·美国（发布链接）
图片来源：图：美国司法部大楼（GSM固定图库）。美国政府作品，公共领域。 / Photo: U.S. Department of Justice headquarters (GSM file photo). U.S. government work, public domain.
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