The controversial glory of the "Brown" decisions and the retraction of court-ordered reforms represent the limited gains of racial justice in education and the protection of white privilege through law and policy. The return to segregation, as propagated through the rise of racially and economically segregated charter schools, exhibits the circuitous nature of law and education policy, represents a return to unequal schooling, and reveals the enduring and meaningful connections between race, law, and education. Using the lens of critical race theory, this paper focuses on law as an instrument of racial justice and oppression in education during the era of school desegregation and the inevitable return to separate and unequal schools for African American students through new education policies that promote the proliferation of charter schools in large urban school districts.