Brennan v. Armstrong
Decision Date | 29 June 1977 |
Docket Number | No. 76-809,76-809 |
Citation | 53 L.Ed.2d 1044,97 S.Ct. 2907,433 U.S. 672 |
Parties | Thomas BRENNAN v. Kevin ARMSTRONG et al |
Court | U.S. Supreme Court |
This school desegregation case involves the school system in the city of Milwaukee, Wis. The District Court here made various findings of segregative acts on the part of petitioner School Board members, appointed a Special Master 'to develop a plan for the desegregation of the Milwaukee public school system,' and certified its order for interlocutory appeal to the Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. Amos v. Board of School Directors, 408 F. Supp. 765. The Court of Appeals, observing that there was 'an unexplained hiatus between specific findings of fact and conclusory findings of segregative intent,' stated that the District Court is 'entitled to a presumption of consistency' and concluded that the findings of the District Court were not clearly erroneous. 539 F.2d 625. Neither the District Court in ordering development of a remedial plan, nor the Court of Appeals in affirming, addressed itself to the inquiry mandated 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:
433 U.S., at 420, 97 S.Ct., at 2766.
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 v. Metropolitan Housing Development Corp., 429 U.S. 252, 97 S.Ct. 555, 50 L.Ed.2d 450 (1977), and Dayton.
My concern over the Court's misuse of summary dispositions prompts this dissent.
The Court's explanation of its action gives the erroneous impression that the Court of Appeals' decision related to the question of what kind of remedy is approprite in this case. Quite the contrary, there was no remedy issue before the Court of Appeals, and that court considered no such issue.
The District Court concluded in a 60-page opinion that 'school authorities engaged in practices with the intent and for the purpose of creating and maintaining a segregated school system, and that such practices had the effect of causing current conditions of segregation in the Milwaukee public schools.' Amos v. Board of School Directors, 408 F.Supp. 765, 818 (E.D.Wis.1976). Recognizing that 'remedial efforts may well be for naught if the determination of liability is ultimately reversed on appeal,' id., at 824. Judge Reynolds certified this issue of law for interlocutory appeal. To further ensure appealability, he entered a general order enjoining future racial discrimination and directing the defendants to formulate desegregation plans. App. 140-141. This order did not call for any particular kind of desegregation plan. Thus when the case reached the Court of Appeals, the only issue before it was the existence of a violation.1 After a careful review of the evidence, it concluded that the District Court's finding of intentional segregation was not clearly erroneous. 539 F.2d 625 (CA7 1976).
This Court now vacates the Court of Appeals judgment and remands for reconsideration in light of two cases. One of those cases2 is merely a routine application of Washington v. Davis, 426 U.S. 229, 96 S.Ct. 2040, 48 L.Ed.2d 597, which was correctly construed by the Court of Appeals.3 The other case is relevant to the issue of liability, if at all, only because it supports the Court of Appeals.4
Of course, in formulating a remedy, the District Court will need to consider cases such as Milliken v. Bradley, 433 U.S. 267, 97 S.Ct. 2749, 53 L.Ed.2d 745, an...
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