This article reports on the U.S. Supreme Court's hearing of arguments on the constitutionality of using race as a tool in assigning students to public schools, in two cases in which advocates on both sides claim to be defending the legacy of "Brown v. Board of Education" and the nation's commitment to equality. The court's conservative and liberal blocs had staked out starkly opposite positions and often sparred with the lawyers over the race-conscious school assignment plans adopted by the Seattle and Jefferson County, Kentucky, school districts.