Bradley v. Milliken, Civ. A. No. 35257.

• Court: United States District Courts. 6th Circuit. United States District Court (Western District Michigan)
• Citation: 338 F. Supp. 582
• Docket Number: Civ. A. No. 35257.
• Parties: Ronald BRADLEY et al., Plaintiffs, v. William G. MILLIKEN et al., Defendants, DETROIT FEDERATION OF TEACHERS, LOCAL #231, American Federation of Teachers, AFL-CIO, Defendant-Intervenor, and Denise Magdowski et al., Defendants-Intervenors.
• Decision Date: 27 September 1971

338 F. Supp. 582

Ronald BRADLEY et al., Plaintiffs,
v.
William G. MILLIKEN et al., Defendants,
DETROIT FEDERATION OF TEACHERS, LOCAL #231, American Federation of Teachers, AFL-CIO, Defendant-Intervenor,
and
Denise Magdowski et al., Defendants-Intervenors.

Civ. A. No. 35257.

United States District Court, E. D. Michigan, S. D.

September 27, 1971.

338 F. Supp. 583

Louis R. Lucas, William E. Caldwell, Ratner, Sugarmon & Lucas, Memphis, Tenn., J. Harold Flannery, Paul R. Dimond, Robert Pressman, Cambridge, Mass., Jack Greenberg, Norman J. Chachkin, New York City, E. Winther McCroom, Cincinnati, Ohio, Nathaniel R. Jones, General Counsel, N.A.A.C.P., New York City, for plaintiffs.

Eugene Krasicky, Asst. Atty. Gen., State of Mich., Lansing, Mich., for Frank J. Kelley, Atty. Gen. of Mich.

George E. Bushnell, Jr.,^* Miller, Canfield, Paddock & Stone, Detroit, Mich., for Detroit Bd. of Ed.

Theodore Sachs, Rothe, Marston, Mazey, Sachs & O'Connell, P. C., Detroit, Mich., for defendant-intervenor Detroit Federation of Teachers, etc.

Alexander B. Ritchie, Fenton, Nederlander, Dodge & Barris, P. C., Detroit,

338 F. Supp. 584

Mich., for defendants-intervenors Magdowski and others

RULING ON ISSUE OF SEGREGATION

ROTH, District Judge.

This action was commenced August 18, 1970, by plaintiffs, the Detroit Branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People¹ and individual parents and students, on behalf of a class later defined by order of the Court dated February 16, 1971, to include "all school children of the City of Detroit and all Detroit resident parents who have children of school age." Defendants are the Board of Education of the City of Detroit, its members and its former superintendent of schools, Dr. Norman A. Drachler, the Governor, Attorney General, State Board of Education and State Superintendent of Public Instruction of the State of Michigan. In their complaint, plaintiffs attacked a statute of the State of Michigan known as Act 48 of the 1970 Legislature on the ground that it put the State of Michigan in the position of unconstitutionally interfering with the execution and operation of a voluntary plan of partial high school desegregation (known as the April 7, 1970 Plan) which had been adopted by the Detroit Board of Education to be effective beginning with the fall 1970 semester. Plaintiffs also alleged that the Detroit Public School System was and is segregated on the basis of race as a result of the official policies and actions of the defendants and their predecessors in office.

Additional parties have intervened in the litigation since it was commenced. The Detroit Federation of Teachers (DFT) which represents a majority of Detroit Public school teachers in collective bargaining negotiations with the defendant Board of Education, has intervened as a defendant, and a group of parents has intervened as defendants.

Initially the matter was tried on plaintiffs' motion for preliminary injunction to restrain the enforcement of Act 48 so as to permit the April 7 Plan to be implemented. On that issue, this Court ruled that plaintiffs were not entitled to a preliminary injunction since there had been no proof that Detroit has a segregated school system. The Court of Appeals found that the "implementation of the April 7 Plan was thwarted by State action in the form of the Act of the Legislature of Michigan," (433 F.2d 897, 902), and that such action could not be interposed to delay, obstruct or nullify steps lawfully taken for the purpose of protecting rights guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment.

The plaintiffs then sought to have this Court direct the defendant Detroit Board to implement the April 7 Plan by the start of the second semester (February, 1971) in order to remedy the deprivation of constitutional rights wrought by the unconstitutional statute. In response to an order of the Court, defendant Board suggested two other plans, along with the April 7 Plan, and noted priorities, with top priority assigned to the so-called "Magnet Plan." The Court acceded to the wishes of the Board and approved the Magnet Plan. Again, plaintiffs appealed but the appellate court refused to pass on the merits of the plan. Instead, the case was remanded with instructions to proceed immediately to a trial on the merits of plaintiffs' substantive allegations about the Detroit School System. 438 F.2d 945 (6th Cir. 1971).

Trial, limited to the issue of segregation, began April 6, 1971 and concluded on July 22, 1971, consuming 41 trial days, interspersed by several brief recesses necessitated by other demands upon the time of Court and counsel. Plaintiffs introduced substantial evidence in support of their contentions, including expert and factual testimony, demonstrative exhibits and school board documents. At the close of plaintiffs' case, in chief,

338 F. Supp. 585

the Court ruled that they had presented a prima facie case of state imposed segregation in the Detroit Public Schools; accordingly, the Court enjoined (with certain exceptions) all further school construction in Detroit pending the outcome of the litigation

The State defendants urged motions to dismiss as to them. These were denied by the Court.

At the close of proofs intervening parent defendants (Denise Magdowski, et al.) filed a motion to join, as parties 85 contiguous "suburban" school districts — all within the so-called Larger Detroit Metropolitan area. This motion was taken under advisement pending the determination of the issue of segregation.

It should be noted that, in accordance with earlier rulings of the Court, proofs submitted at previous hearings in the cause, were to be and are considered as part of the proofs of the hearing on the merits.

In considering the present racial complexion of the City of Detroit and its public school system we must first look to the past and view in perspective what has happened in the last half century. In 1920 Detroit was a predominantly white city — 91% — and its population younger than in more recent times. By the year 1960 the largest segment of the city's white population was in the age range of 35 to 50 years, while its black population was younger and of childbearing age. The population of 0-15 years of age constituted 30% of the total population of which 60% were white and 40% were black. In 1970 the white population was principally aging — 45 years — while the black population was younger and of childbearing age. Childbearing blacks equaled or exceeded the total white population. As older white families without children of school age leave the city they are replaced by younger black families with school age children, resulting in a doubling of enrollment in the local neighborhood school and a complete change in student population from white to black. As black inner city residents move out of the core city they "leap-frog" the residential areas nearest their former homes and move to areas recently occupied by whites.

The population of the City of Detroit reached its highest point in 1950 and has been declining by approximately 169,500 per decade since then. In 1950, the city population constituted 61% of the total population of the standard metropolitan area and in 1970 it was but 36% of the metropolitan area population. The suburban population has increased by 1,978,000 since 1940. There has been a steady out-migration of the Detroit population since 1940. Detroit today is principally a conglomerate of poor black and white plus the aged. Of the aged, 80% are white.

If the population trends evidenced in the federal decennial census for the years 1940 through 1970 continue, the total black population in the City of Detroit in 1980 will be approximately 840,000, or 53.6% of the total. The total population of the city in 1970 is 1,511,000 and, if past trends continue, will be 1,338,000 in 1980. In school year 1960-61, there were 285,512 students in the Detroit Public Schools of which 130,765 were black. In school year 1966-67, there were 297,035 students, of which 168,299 were black. In school year 1970-71 there were 289,743 students of which 184,194 were black. The percentage of black students in the Detroit Public Schools in 1975-76 will be 72.0%, in 1980-81 will be 80.7% and in 1992 it will be virtually 100% if the present trends continue. In 1960, the non-white population, ages 0 years to 19 years, was as follows:

 0 - 4 years 42%
                 5 - 9 years 36%
                10 - 14 years 28%
                15 - 19 years 18%
                

In 1970 the non-white population, ages 0 years to 19 years, was as follows:

 0 - 4 years 48%
                 5 - 9 years 50%
                10 - 14 years 50%
                15 - 19 years 40%
                

338 F. Supp. 586

The black population as a percentage of the total population in the City of Detroit was:

(a) 1900 1.4%
                (b) 1910 1.2%
                (c) 1920 4.1%
                (d) 1930 7.7%
                (e) 1940 9.2%
                (f) 1950 16.2%
                (g) 1960 28.9%
                (h) 1970 43.9%
                

The black population as a percentage of total student population of the Detroit Public Schools was as follows:

(a) 1961 45.8%
                (b) 1963 51.3%
                (c) 1964 53.0%
                (d) 1965 54.8%
                (e) 1966 56.7%
                (f) 1967 58.2%
                (g) 1968 59.4%
                (h) 1969 61.5%
                (i) 1970 63.8%
                

For the years indicated the housing characteristics in the City of Detroit were as follows:

(a) 1960 total supply of housing
                 units was 553,000
                (b) 1970 total supply of housing
                 units was 530,770
                

The percentage decline in the white students in the Detroit Public Schools during the period 1961-1970 (53.6% in 1960; 34.8% in 1970) has been greater than the percentage decline in the white population in the City of Detroit during the same period (70.8% in 1960; 55.21% in 1970), and correlatively, the percentage increase in black students in the Detroit Public Schools during the nine-year period 1961-1970 (45.8% in 1961; 63.8% in 1970) has been greater than the percentage increase in the black population of the City of Detroit during the ten-year period 1960-1970 (28.9% in 1960; 43.9% in 1970). In 1961 there were eight schools in the system without white pupils and 73 schools...