Race and Eth Exam 2 - Court Cases

Shelby County v. Holder

• 2013

• Under voter suppression

• The U.S. Supreme Court decided that “preclearance” by Justice Department, set in 1965 Voting Rights Act, before changing election or voting laws, was no longer required.

Plessy v. Ferguson

• 1896

• Race and Ed. History

• “Separate but equal”

Brown v. Board of Ed.

• 1954

• Race and Ed. History

• “Separate is inherently unequal,” thus segregation is unconstitutional.

Brown v. Board of Ed. II

• 1955

• Race and Ed. History

• The U.S. Supreme Court decided that each locale achieves integration and equality “with all deliberate speed.”

• In the late 1950s and the 1960s, the struggles to achieve the essence of the Brown decision and the resistance against integration continued. Fed up with the slow progress, the activists went back to courts in the 1970s.

Serrano v. Priest

• 1971

• California State Supreme Court

• Equality-Inequality Issue

• California State Supreme Court decided that unequal funding resulting from the reliance on local property taxes to fund public education was unconstitutional.

  • So, the state government must equalize the per-student funding for public schools.

San Antonio v. Rodriguez

• 1973

• Equality-Inequality Issue

• The U.S. Supreme Court decided that educational funding was a state matter, not a federal matter.

Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg

• 1971

• Segregation-Integration Issue

• The U.S. Supreme Court decided that each school district must bus students to achieve integration proportionate to student demographics in each school district.

Milliken v. Bradley

• 1974

• Segregation-Integration Issue

• The U.S. Supreme Court decided that there was NO legal requirement for inter-district busing.

1990s-21st Century: Revival of Court Battles

The 1980s was the time of local struggles to achieve the promise of the Brown decision, within the limits set by the courts in the 1970s. The issues returned to the courts in the 1990s.

DeRolph v. State of Ohio

• 1997

• Equality-Inequality Issue

• Ohio State Supreme Court

• Unequal educational funding due to the reliance of local property taxes is unconstitutional. (Identical to 1971 Serrano v. Priest in California)

  • Similar decisions in Vermont, New Hampshire, Arizona

Oklahoma Board of Ed. v. Dowell

• 1991

• Segregation-Integration Issue

• The U.S. Supreme Court decided that school districts can be released from court-ordered busing once they have taken all “practicable” steps to eliminate the legacy of segregation.

Parents v. Seattle School District

• 2007

• The U.S. Supreme Court deemed it unconstitutional to assign students to public schools solely for the purpose of achieving racial integration and declined to recognize racial balancing as a compelling state interest.

• This is where we stand right now on the issues of desegregation and equality.

Regents of University of California v. Bakke

• 1978

• Affirmative Action

• The U.S. Supreme Court decided that the U.C. Davis medical school’s affirmative action program that set aside 16 spots out of 100 (i.e., Quota System) was unconstitutional and thus must be discontinued.

• Importantly, in this case, the U.S. Supreme Court also stated that the use of race as a factor in admission is permissible, if applicants qualify based on merit.

Grutter v. Bollinger

• 2003

• Affirmative Action

• from University of Michigan (law school and undergraduate) reached the U.S. Supreme Court.

• In this case on law school admission, the U.S. Supreme Court decided that the use of race as one factor is constitutional.

Gratz v. Bollinger

• 2003

• Affirmative Action

• from University of Michigan (law school and undergraduate) reached the U.S. Supreme Court.

• University of Michigan’s undergraduate division had the point system which gave 20 points automatically to minority applicants. The U.S. Supreme Court decided that converting race to a pure number resembled a quota far too much, and thus unconstitutional.

Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard

• 2023

• Affirmative Action

• On June 29, 2023, the U.S. Supreme Court decided race-conscious college admissions processes are unconstitutional under the 14th Amendment's Equal Protection Clause, ending the policy of affirmative action.