Meredith v. Jefferson County Board of Education
Meredith sued the Jefferson County Board of Education for an injunction barring the use of its system for admitting students to all of its schools. For twenty-five years, the Board maintained an integrated school system under a 1975 federal court decree. After being released from that decree in 2000, the Board developed a school assignment plan to maintain integrated schools. The plaintiffs in this case, who include students and their parents, argue that the Board's student assignment plan violates their rights under the Equal Protection Clause of the United States
The 2001 Plan requires each school to have an enrollment of black students between 15% and 50% of the school population. Besides race, placement is determined by factors such as place of residence, school capacity, program popularity, random draw, and the student's choice.
The district court held that the board of education’s racial classification must meet the strict scrutiny standard found in the United States Supreme Court case Gratz v. Bollinger. To meet the strict scrutiny standard, a racial classification must further a compelling government interest and be narrowly tailored to achieve that interest. The court held that the racial classification did further the government’s compelling interests in racial tolerance, racial equality, and attracting support from the entire community. Most of the plan was narrowly tailored because the board of education used a racial range that was broad enough not to be a quota, still considered each student individually, did not unduly harm members of other races, and only used race in ways that were necessary to meet its goals. The United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit affirmed the lower court’s ruling per curiam.
Questions Presented:
(1) Should Grutter v. Bollinger, 539 U.S. 306 (2003) and Regents of University of California v. Bakke, 438 U.S. 268 (1978) and Gratz v. Bollinger, 539 U.S. 244 (2003) be overturned and/or misapplied by the Respondent, the Jefferson County Board of Education to use race as the sole factor to assign students to the regular (nontraditional) schools in the Jefferson County Public Schools?
(2) Whether the race-conscious Student Assignment Plan with mechanical and inflexible quota systems of not less than 15% nor greater than 50% of African American students without individually or holistic review of any student, meets the Fourteenth Amendment requirement of the use of race which is a compelling interest narrowly tailored with strict scrutiny.
(3) Did the District Court abuse and/or exceed its remedial judicial authority in maintaining desegregative attractiveness in the Public Schools of Jefferson County, Kentucky?
Decisions under Review:
Meredith v. Jefferson County Board of Education, Sixth Circuit
McFarland v. Jefferson County Board of Education, Western District of Kentucky
