At this point in any administration, most presidents begin to worry about their legacy -- the ideas, policies, major developments and decisions that history will hold onto long after it forsakes the names of their pets, where they vacationed and the nicknames they assigned high-ranking officials.

First and foremost, George W. Bush will be remembered as the man who did a defensible thing by attacking one country to avenge a terrorist attack on the U.S. homeland that targeted civilians and then did the indefensible by pretending that invading another country was part of that quest for justice. And, of course, he will be remembered for the waste of human lives and national treasure that the pretense claimed. And for turning the richest and most powerful nation in the world into the richest, most powerful and most despised.

The second layer of the Bush legacy will be his championship of the rich and privileged at the expense of the middle class, the poor and the striving. The effects of his tax cuts, neglect of the health care crisis and nose-thumbing at the environment will live long after he boards Marine One on January 20, 2009 -- oh, blessed day. Long after he and Laura are cooling their heels, we will be spending our golden years -- and our children will be spending their prime -- trying to pay off the deficit, fix the health system and clean up the air and water.

But it’s the third layer that has the longest shelf life. That is the Supreme Court Bush built, and it is a doozy. A better name might be the Supremacist Court of the United States; for it has become a dreamland for racists, classists and sexists. The hyper-conservative majority -- Roberts, Scalia, Thomas, Kennedy and Alito -- have turned the Constitution into a manifesto for the ultra-conservative that demands homogeny, and their work could survive for generations, even for the life of the republic.

Last week, the Five Fiends rendered a decision that should put to rest any reasonable doubt about their mission to secure privilege and power for those who already have it and to deny it to those for whom the promise of America is more fantasy than dream.

Unabashedly, they spat on one of the most revered and noble rulings in Supreme Court history -- the 1954 Brown v. Topeka decision, which ruled that racially segregated schools were inherently unequal and, therefore, unconstitutional.

In ruling on challenges to school assignment plans from Louisville and Seattle, the five determined that public schools are only obliged to fix racial disparities if and when they used to have discriminatory laws or policies -- de jure (of law) segregation. If segregation just happened in the absence of an official law or policy -- de facto (in fact) segregation -- well, folks will just have to get over it.

“Neither of the programs before us today is compelled as a remedial measure, and no one makes such a claim,” said the majority opinion.

Why do we even care when we know our children’s ability is not tied to integration, when we know they can learn and thrive in all-black classrooms as well as in mixed-race classrooms, maybe even better without the distractions of racial politics?

Because we know, too, that their success depends not only on their innate abilities, but on the infrastructure in which they are expected to learn. Science labs need chemicals and running taps and certified science instructors; physical education classes need bats and balls and nets and lockers; art classes need easels and canvases and brushes and paint. Computer classes need computers. The kids need light and working restrooms and decent food and space and safety. And they all do better with more individualized attention, the function of smaller pupil-teacher ratios, which come from money and a spiritual commitment to keep a school vibrant.

That’s what always goes when a school loses racial balance. White flight speaks to a much deeper problem that school assignment plans can’t cure, but they are at least an effort, which is more than the new Supremacist Court opinion has offered.

After all, the Brown decision did not come down on school districts for not having a plan to promote integration; it attacked segregation itself and that necessitated plans. In short, the target has always been segregation, regardless of how it came to be.

But that was then. There’s a new sheriff in town now, courtesy of George W. Bush, who may still be baling make-believe brush in Crawford, Texas when the country has completely turned its back on the idea of education for all.