The Federal Judiciary and Northern School Desegregation

Using a three-tier analysis, this article examines how the interplay of political and legal factors has influenced the development of school desegregation policy in Michigan and Ohio. The author concludes, among other things, that the district courts, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals, and the U.S. Supreme Court are sensitive to the influences of politics and legalism, but that the responses of the three kinds of federal courts are different. Recognizing a constitutional imperative to eradicate segregation, district courts have emphasized the participation of elected officials and affected community groups in the remedial process. Because of isolation and low visibility, the Sixth Circuit has tended to pursue a more tenacious policy course than either the district court or the Supreme Court. Meanwhile, the U.S. Supreme Court has generally championed the cause of local officials by attempting to balance the interest of eliminating segregation with that of protecting the integrity of state and local decisionmakers

Desegregation · Original jurisdiction · Political science · Politics · Remedial education · State (computer science · State supreme court · Supreme court · Law · Law, Rights, and Freedoms · Public Administration · Race, History, and American Society · School Choice and Performance