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The U.S. Supreme Court hears arguments on the constitutionality of student busing and racial balance in Southern schools.
1970 (Oct 12 - 14)
The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments on student busing and racial balance in Southern schools. The arguments were heard by the court as part of appeals filed by attorneys representing school districts in Charlotte, North Carolina, and Mobile, Alabama. Attorneys for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) Legal Defense and Educational Fund, argued on October 13 that each Black child possessed the constitutional right to be enrolled in a school that was not recognizably Black. The lawyers contended that any desegregation plan that did not eliminate every all-Black school should be deemed inadequate. NAACP lawyers further argued that the Brown v. Board of Education decision of 1954 would be undermined if the court would permit some Southern school districts to maintain recognizably Black schools. Solicitor General Ervin N. Griswold, representing the Justice Department, rebutted the NAACP argument. He contended that the NAACP's petition amounted to a demand for racial balance in the schools, something that the constitution did not require. Lawyers for the school districts told the court, on October 13, that the Brown v. Board of Education decision was being violated by court-ordered desegregation plans that assigned children to schools by race. They asserted that the busing of school children to increase the incidence of desegregation was unconstitutional. The court promised a ruling during its present term.
References:
- • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.