From the Christian Science Monitor, Tuesday, June 30:

America's unsettled debate over race has too often been conducted between judges writing alone in their chambers rather than in open forums by the public or their elected representatives.

That was true again in a ruling on Monday by the Supreme Court that will set back the use of race in employment decisions.

In a case known as Ricci, the justices revealed their heated arguments in separate opinions that went beyond mere legal precedent and the Constitution. They took note of racial motives and identity politics -- or what Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg called "empathy" toward one particular group seeking justice in this case.

This kind of back and forth between the justices is typical in race cases. It points to unresolved political issues in America over such topics as diversity in education and using the law to elevate minorities.

The days of using quotas to fix the effects of past discrimination are over. And more states are banning official use of race in hiring and school admissions.

With the election of an African-American as president, the politics of race that is aimed at boosting diversity or widening benefits specifically for minorities now faces an uphill battle.

In Congress, for instance, the House and Senate are at odds over separate resolutions that offer an official apology for America's history of slavery. The lawmakers differ over whether such a gesture would lead to government reparations for today's descendents of slaves.

A recent poll finds half of Americans favor special efforts to help minorities get ahead, while 41 percent oppose. Justices read such polls and bring such political considerations into their decisions.

The battling Ricci opinions show just how much Americans have yet to reconcile the need to reduce achievement gaps for blacks and Hispanics with actions that border on racial discrimination against whites, as was the case in Ricci.

Such questions should not be only for justices to decide. They obviously disagree because their politics hinder their ability to keep justice neutral and to treat rights as individual rights, not collective rights for only one group.

The emotions of race are best left to public forums and for elected bodies to resolve. The fact that the Supreme Court has shifted its stance on race in the past couple decades, and that many of its race decisions are split 5 to 4, is an argument for fewer legal battles and for all Americans to take up the race debate once again.