"When you consider the time and place for Brown, I do not think those kids staying in their neighborhoods would have had equal opportunities, equal facilities, equal resources," Crawford said.

The governor's office was also "taken aback" by the comments, according to Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr.'s spokesman, Mike Mower.

"Equal treatment under the law is one of the most important objectives of any democracy. Brown v. Board of Education was one of the seminal events that helped us achieve this ideal," Mower said.

Former Rep. Duane Bourdeaux, who left the Legislature this year, said he'd challenge Buttars to pay more attention to those students who have fallen behind.

"When looking at at-risk kids, we are not doing enough," Bourdeaux said.

Teresa Theurer, a member of the State Board of Education, said Buttars' initial comment went against efforts the state has taken to help all students achieve as the schools become increasingly diverse.

"It made me sad," Theurer said. "As a board we recognized that (inequality) exists, and we try to help all the students."

Buttars said in his call for making judges more accountable to the public for their records, he doesn't intend to limit their ability to rule bad laws unconstitutional. He said the Supreme Court was right to call for public school integration in Brown v. Education.

He declined to cite an example of an "activist judge" but mentioned a case in which a hunter was lectured by a judge on animal cruelty as an example of conduct the public needs to be aware of.

"We were talking about what is the role of the court and what is the role of the Legislature," Buttars said. "Legislators create law; judges are not to create law. ... I was talking about judges who don't follow the law and go out there and write their own law."

But Williams questioned what exactly Buttars means by judicial activism, noting that Brown v. Board was so unpopular in some communities that public schools were shut down to avoid integration.

In that case the Supreme Court interpreted the law, Williams said, and overturned it at a time when "separate but equal was the norm. It was the law of the land."

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Contributing: Lisa Riley Roche

E-mail: dbulkeley@desnews.com