School District of Omaha v. United States
Citation | 53 L.Ed.2d 1039,433 U.S. 667,97 S.Ct. 2905 |
Decision Date | 29 June 1977 |
Docket Number | No. 76-705,76-705 |
Parties | SCHOOL DISTRICT OF OMAHA et al. v. UNITED STATES et al |
Court | United States Supreme Court |
This school desegregation case involves the School District of Omaha, Neb. The District Court in a comprehensive opinion, 389 F.Supp. 293, extensively reviewed the evidence presented by the parties, and recognized that there was considerable racial imbalance in school attendance patterns. Applying a legal standard which placed the burden of proving intentional segregative actions on the respondents, and which regarded the natural and foreseeable consequences of petitioners' conduct as 'neither determinative nor immaterial' but as 'one additional factor to be weighed,' the District Court concluded that the respondent had not carried the burden of proving a deliberate policy of racial segregation. 389 F.Supp. 293. On appeal, the Court of Appeals rejected the legal standard applied by the District Court, 521 F.2d 530, stating that a 'presumption of segregative intent' arises from actions or omissions whose natural and foreseeable result is to 'bring about or maintain segregation.' Id., at 535. Reviewing the facts found by the District Court concerning faculty assignment, student transfers, optional attendance zones, school con- struction, and the deterioration of one high school in the district, the Court of Appeals generally accepted these factual findings. In each instance, however, it concluded that there was sufficient evidence under the legal standard it adopted to shift the burden of proof to the petitioners. Finding that in no instance had the petitioners caried their rebuttal burden, the Court of Appeals remanded for the formulation of a systemwide remedy. We denied certiorari. 423 U.S. 946, 96 S.Ct. 361, 46 L.Ed.2d 280.
Following the explicit instruction of the Court of Appeals, the District Court, 418 F.Supp. 22, promulgated an extensive plan involving, among other elements, the systemwide transportation of pupils. On petitioners' appeal, the Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit affirmed. 541 F.2d 708.
In Washington v. Davis, 426 U.S. 229, 239, 96 S.Ct. 2040, 2047, 48 L.Ed. 597 (1976), we said:
'(O)ur cases have not embraced the proposition that a law or other official act, without regard to whether it reflects a racially discriminatory purpose, is unconstitutional solely because it has a racially disproportionate impact.'
We restated and amplified the implications of this holding in Village of Arlington Heights v. Metropolitan Housing Development Corp., 429 U.S. 252, 97 S.Ct. 555, 50 L.Ed.2d 450 (1977).
Neither the Court of Appeals nor the District Court, in addressing itself to the remedial plan mandated by the earlier decision of the Court of Appeals, addressed itself to the inquiry required by our opinion in Dayton Board of Education v. Brinkman, 433 U.S. 406, 97 S.Ct. 2766, 53 L.Ed.2d 851, in which we said:
Supra, at 420, 97 S.Ct. at 2775.
The petition for certiorari is accordingly granted, the judgment of the Court of Appeals is vacated, and the case is remanded for reconsideration in the light of Village of Arlington Heights and Dayton.
It is so ordered.
The Court's remand of this case for reconsideration in light of Village of Arlington Heights v. Metropolitan Housing Development Cor., 429 U.S. 252, 97 S.Ct. 555, 50 L.Ed.2d 450 (1977), and Dayton Board of Education v. Brinkman, 433 U.S. 406, 97 S.Ct. 2766, 53 L.Ed.2d 851 (1977), is inappropriate because wholly unnecessary. The Court of Appeals concluded that 'segregation in the Omaha School District was intentionally created and maintained by the defendants.' 521 F.2d 530, 532-533 (1975). The petitioners did not contest in the Court of Appeals the finding of the District Court that the Omaha public schools are segregated. Ibid. The Court of Appeals carefully reviewed the abundant evidence in the record bearing on segregative intent and concluded that the evidence justified a presumption that segregative intent permeated petitioners' policies concerning faculty assignment, student transfers, optional attendance zones, school construction, and the deterioration of the 96% black Tech High School. Id., at 537-546. Relying on Keyes v. School District No. 1, Denver, Colorado, 413 U.S. 189, 210, 93 S.Ct. 2686, 2698, 37 L.Ed.2d 548 (1973), the Court of Appeals further found that the petitioners did not...
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