Vetterli v. 77 1395

• Decision Date: 10 April 1978
• Docket Number: No. A-830,A-830
• Citation: 55 L.Ed.2d 751,435 U.S. 1304,98 S.Ct. 1219
• Parties: Richard VETTERLI et al., Applicants, v. . (77-1395)
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

435 U.S. 1304

98 S.Ct. 1219

55 L.Ed.2d 751

Richard VETTERLI et al., Applicants,

v UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR the CENTRAL DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA et al.

No. A-830 (77-1395).

April 10, 1978.

Mr. Justice REHNQUIST, Circuit Justice.

Applicants, members of the Pasadena City Board of Education, seek a stay of an order issued by the United States District Court for the Central District of California, pending disposition of a motion for leave to file a petition for a writ of mandamus and a petition for writ of mandamus.¹ They claim that portions of the District Court's order violate the decision and judgment of this Court in Pasadena City Board of Education v. Spangler, 427 U.S. 424, 96 S.Ct. 2697, 49 L.Ed.2d 599 (1976), and that the order, unless stayed, will subject them to the irreparable harm of having to engage in burdensome and disruptive activities necessary to comply with the District Court's order. Since my reading of the record indicates that the order does n t conflict with our decision in Spangler, supra, I decline to issue the stay.

Spangler, supra, arose out of a suit commenced in 1968 by high school students and their parents, alleging that various school officials had unconstitutionally segregated the public schools in Pasadena. In 1970, after trial, the District Court, holding that the defendants had violated the Fourteenth Amendment, ordered them to submit a plan for desegregation which would provide that beginning with the 1970-1971 school year there would be no school "with a majority of any minority students." The defendants complied. In 1974, however, applicants, successors in office to the previous defendants, filed a motion with the District Court seeking to modify the 1970 order by eliminating the "no majority" requirement. The District Court denied the motion, ruling that the "no majority" requirement was an inflexible one to be applied anew each school year even though subsequent changes in the racial mix in the schools were caused by factors for which the defendants might not be considered responsible. The Court of Appeals affirmed that ruling, but we reversed, concluding that the District Court had exceeded its authority in enforcing the "no majority" provision so as to require annual readjustment of attendance zones.

Upon remand to the District Court, a hearing was scheduled on applicants' motion for dissolution of the 1970 injunction.² Applicants represented that there was no plan at that time to make any changes in the method of making student assignments. Shortly thereafter, on July 1, 1977, the District Court deleted the "no majority" provision from the injunction.³ The hearing was completed and the matter submitted to the District Court for resolution. By late January 1978, when no further action had been taken by the District Court, however, applicants withdrew their representation that no changes would be made in the method of student assignments and on February 28, 1978, the District Court entered the following oral order:

" . . . pending decision of this Court on the submitted matters before the Court or until further order of the Court, that each of you are enjoined from making any changes in the method of student assignments in the Pasadena Unified School District that was in effect on October 21, 1977." ⁴

The applicants, concerned that the District Court did not include in the order anything expressly relating to the "no majority" provision, sought a clarification of the order later that same day. Applicants' counsel stated:

"We have concluded from that omission, you Honor, that the purport of the order which was issued or the injunction which was issued this morning to those defendants was that they are indeed enjoined to take measures for the purpose of insuring that no school in the district has a majority of any minority students."

The judge replied:

"That is right, Mr. McDonough. There is to be no change in the student assignment system that was in force on October 21st, 1977."

Applicants, relying totally on the judge's comment that "[t]hat is right," now contend that the District Court has reimposed the "no majority" requirement contrary to the dictates of our decision in Spangler, supra. If that were true, a writ of mandamus might properly issue to execute the Court's judgment. See Vendo Co. v. Lektro-Vend Corp., 434 U.S. 425, 98 S.Ct. 702, 54 L.Ed.2d 659 (1978). But I do not think the judge's statements during the colloquy can be read as having that effect, and I...