In June 2007, the United States Supreme Court rendered its most recent decision on the constitutionality of race-based education policies. The Court decided that race-based student assignment policies implemented in two school districts to ensure racially integrated schools violated the United States Constitution. Since the implementation of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the creation of affirmative action policies, the legal and political debate regarding race-based policies has been constant and explosive; there does not seem to be an end in sight. In this first decade of the 21st century, the debate is rooted in age-old legal cases and legislation. The United States' legal history helped to shape current educational policies as well as societal attitudes which consider race in the academic admissions process. This examination of federal race-based legal cases and legislation addressing the period from the mid-1800s through the implementation of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 reveals the courts' role in perpetuating the notion of White privilege and legally endorsing discrimination and segregation in education for more than a hundred years. The examination also demonstrates how legal cases and legislation necessitated race-conscious affirmative action policies. (Contains 6 footnotes.)