Washington v. Seattle School District No. 1 (1981)
- Docket
- 81-9
- Decided
- 1981-01-01
Summary
Question: Does the statewide initiative violate the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment? Conclusion: Yes. The initiative reordered the educational decisionmaking process by moving the power over busing for purposes of integration to state control. The state explicitly employed "the racial nature of a decision to determine the decisionmaking process." This kind of state action places an unconstitutional burden on racial minorities within the governmental process.