Milliken v. Bradley
1974
"We conclude that the belief ordered by the District Court and affirmed by the Court of Appeals was based upon an erroneous standard and was unsupported by record evidence that acts of outlying districts effected by the discrimination found to exist in the schools of Detroit." -- Chief Justice Burger
In 1971, a U.S. District Court decided that the black Detroit school district and its white suburbs were not racially integrated. The Court mandated that Detroit and its suburban districts join as one school district; the Court also declared that busing between the suburbs and the city would be used to reduce segregation.
Governor Milliken disagreed with the District Court's decision, believing that joining the districts and relying on busing were unconstitutional. He filed a lawsuit against Bradley, an advocate for the Court's decision.
In a 5-4 decision, delivered by Chief Justice Burger on July 24, 1974, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the District Court. The Supreme Court said that the federal courts should not be creating and implementing inter-district plans; instead, local school boards should handle the school systems. The Court also ended the use of busing as a strategy to increase integration.
Justice Thurgood Marshall dissented, arguing that since Michigan had created the racial divide between Detroit and its surrounding suburbs, Michigan should be the party to address the segregation. Justice Marshall believed that if busing was the only feasible way to successfully decrease the segregation, then busing should be used.
SOURCES
Smith, Robert C. "Milliken v. Bradley." (2003). Encyclopedia of African-American Politics. New York: Facts On File, Inc. African-American History Online. Facts On File, Inc. Retrieved on December 3, 2012 from http://www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp?
ItemID=WE01&iPin=EAAP0259&SingleRecord=True.