race and ethnicity court cases

Brown v. Board of Education (1954)- “Separate is inherently unequal,” thus segregation is unconstitutional

 Brown v. Board of Education II (1955)- 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 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)- The U.S. Supreme Court decided that educational funding was a state matter, not a federal matter.

Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg (1971)- 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)- The U.S. Supreme Court decided that there was NO legal requirement for inter-district busing

Oklahoma Board of Education v. Dowell (1991)- 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

Regents of the University of California v. Bakke (1978)- 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)- 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)- 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.

Fisher v. Texas (2016)- On June 23, 2016, the U.S. Supreme Court rendered a decision that universities may continue to consider race as one factor in ensuring a diverse student body, basically keeping its own Bakke (1978) and Grutter (2003) decisions intact.

Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard (2023)- 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.

Shelby County v. Holder (2013)- 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. (More on this case is in “Systemic Inequality and American Democracy.”)