CONSTITUTIONAL LAW W.B. Fisch, Fall 2003 Assignment #32
[Proving Unlawful Segregation in the North]
Keyes v. School Dist. #1,
Denver, p. 719 (1973)
what was different about "northern
segregation", that made it a distinguishable legal problem from that in
the south and border states?
what special facts in the Denver
case complicated proof of violation?
two major minority groups as
victims of discrimination?
proof of intentional segregation
as to some but not all schools?
what technique did the Court
use to overcome the geographic problem?
Powell's opinion
what is the de facto/de
jure distinction, as Powell understands it?
why does it produce unjustifiable
differences in desegregation enforcement between northern and southern
school districts?
what is Powell's proposed solution
to this problem?
Dayton and Columbus,
pp. 727-8 (1979): how is the "northern" problem of proof solved in these
cases?
when are the remedial obligations
of a once-intentionally-segregated system fulfilled, so the remedial orders
can be lifted?
Spangler,p. 723 (1976):
can the duty to maintain quotas be indefinite?
Dowell, pp. 723 (1991)
does mere compliance with a
decree warrant its dissolution?
can a system which has achieved
"unitary status" by means of redrawing district lines, now re-adopt a "neighborhood
school" plan which results in substantial re-segregation along racial lines?
when can one say that current
housing segregation is not attributable in part to past school segregation?
Freeman v. Pitts, p.
725 (1992): can a decree be dissolved in installments?
Limits on the Range of Permissible
Remedies
Spallone, p. 732 (1990):
if city action is ordered, can council members be threatened with contempt,
as well as the city itself, for noncompliance?
Milliken v. Bradley,
p. 728 (1974)
when can a remedy encompass
more than one school system?
what if the state as such is
found guilty of segregative acts affecting individual schools?
Missouri v. Jenkins,
p. 733 (1990) and p. 735 (1995)
if an effective remedy requires
substantial improvements in facilities, can the district be required to
impose a tax to finance them?
can it do so, if the tax to
be imposed exceeds the district's taxing powers under state law?
can a remedy for intra-district
segregation include measures designed to attract students from neighboring
districts not themselves found guilty?
can achievement scores be used
as a criterion of remedial success?