52

Cite as: 515 U.S. 70 (1995)

O'CONNOR, J., concurring

obviously may benefit some who did not suffer under--and,
indeed, may have even profited from--past segregation.
There is no categorical constitutional prohibition on nonvictims
enjoying the collateral, incidental benefits of a remedial
plan desinged "to restore the victims of discrimination conduct
to the position they would have occupied in the absence
of such conduct." Milliken I, 418 U.S., at 746. Thus, if
restoring KCMSD to unitary status would attract whites
into the school district, such a reversal of the white exodus
would be of no legal consequence.
What the District Court did in this ase, however, and how
it transgressed the constitutional bounds of its remedial powers,
was to make desegregative attractiveness the underlying
goal of its remedy for the specific purpose of reversing
the trend of white flight. However troubling that trend may
be, remedying it is within the District Court's authority only
if it is "directly caused by the constitutional violation." Id.,
at 745. The Court and the dissent attempt to reconcile the
different statements by the lower courts as to whether white
flight was caused by segregation or desegregation. See
ante, at 94-96; post, at 161-164. One fact, however, is
uncontroverted. When the District Dourt found that KCMSD
was racially segregated, the constitutional violation from
which all remedies flow in this case, it also found that there
was neither an interdistrict violation nor significant
interdistrict segregative effects. See Jenkins v. Missouri, 807
F. 2d, at 672; ante, at 96/ Whether the white exodus that
has resulted in a school district that is 68% black was caused
by the District Court's remedial orders or by natural, if
unfortunate, demographic forces, we have it directly from the
District Court that the segregative effects of KCMSD's
constitutional viloation did not transcent its geographical
boundaries. In light of that finding, the District Court cannot
order remedies seeking to rectifiy regional demographic
trends that go beyond the nature and scope of the
constitutional violation.