Racial Classifications and Strict Scrutiny

Racial classifications are considered highly suspect, because race has often been employed by the law for invidious purposes. See, e.g., Plessy.

But suppose the pupose is not invidious. Here are two hypos once posed by Prof. Brest:

1. He posed the case of a public school principal who seats blacks on one side of the stage at graduation and whites on the other side for aesthetic reasons.

2. He also posed the case of a prison warden who temporarily separates black and white prisoners in order to quell an outbreak of racially motivated violence. Cf. Johnson v. California, casebook p. 789.

Apply strict scrutiny in each of these cases.