Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg
| Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education | |
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| Argued October 12, 1970 Decided April 20, 1971 |
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| Full case name | Swann et al. v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education et al. |
| Citations | 402 U.S. 1 (more) |
| Subsequent history | 431 F.2d 138, affirmed as to those parts in which it affirmed the District Court's judgment. |
| Holding | |
| Busing students to promote integration is constitutional. | |
| Court membership | |
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| Case opinions | |
| Majority | Burger, joined by unanimous |
Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education, 402 U.S. 1 (1971) was a landmark United States Supreme Court case dealing with the busing of students to promote integration in public schools. The Court held that busing was an appropriate remedy for the problem of racial imbalance in schools, even when the imbalance resulted from the selection of students based on geographic proximity to the school rather than from deliberate assignment based on race. This was done to ensure the schools would be "properly" integrated and that all students would receive equal educational opportunities regardless of their race.
Judge John J. Parker of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, like many in the South, interpreted Brown as a charge not to segregate rather than an order to integrate. In 1963, the Court ruled in McNeese v. Board of Education and Goss v. Board of Education in favor of integration, and showed impatience with efforts to end segregation. In 1968 the Warren Court ruled in Green v. County School Board that freedom of choice plans were insufficient to eliminate segregation, thus it was necessary to take proactive steps to integrate schools. In United States v. Montgomery County Board of Education (1969), Judge Frank Johnson’s desegregation order for teachers was upheld, allowing an approximate ratio of the races to be established by a district judge.
North Carolina was one of the more moderate Southern states, and its resistance to integration was much weaker than in most other areas of the South. After Brown, it had ended segregation with a school assignment plan based on neighborhoods that was approved by the Court. However, when Charlotte consolidated school districts from the city itself with a surrounding area totaling 550 square miles (1,400 km2), the majority of black students (who lived in central Charlotte) still attended mostly black schools as compared with majority white schools further outside the city.
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