Milliken v. Bradley case brief

Milliken v. Bradley case brief summary
418 U.S. 717 (1974)

CASE SYNOPSIS

Respondents, a class of Detroit school children and resident parents, filed an action against petitioners, various state and local officials, which sought the implementation of a desegregation plan in Detroit schools. The United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit affirmed the decision ordering the implementation of a plan that involved suburban and metropolitan school districts. Petitioners appealed the decision.

CASE FACTS
At trial, the district court found that governmental actions at all levels had combined to establish and maintain a pattern of residential segregation throughout the city of Detroit. Accordingly, the trial court ordered the implementation of a cross-district school desegregation plan in order to truly integrate the school systems.

DISCUSSION

• The appellate court affirmed the order. 
• The court stated that a federal remedial power could be exercised only on the basis of a constitutional violation and the nature of the violation would determine the scope of the remedy. 
• The court further found that before the boundaries of separate and autonomous school districts could be set aside by imposing a cross-district remedy, it must first be shown that there had been a constitutional violation within one district that produces a significant segregative effect in another district. 
• Specifically, it must be shown that racially discriminatory acts of the state or local school districts, or of a single school district, have been a substantial cause of interdistrict segregation.

CONCLUSION
The judgment of the lower court was reversed and the case was remanded for further proceedings, including the formulation of a decree directed at eliminating the segregation found to exist in the Detroit city schools.

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