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Civil Rights & Equal Protection

Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Bd. of Education

Decided: 1971

In brief

Approved busing as a remedy to desegregate public schools.

The Court's ruling in depth

Confronted with school districts whose segregated attendance patterns tracked entrenched residential segregation, a unanimous Court approved a comprehensive desegregation plan featuring court-ordered busing, racial ratios as a starting point, and altered attendance zones. Swann is the high-water mark of judicial supervision of school desegregation; later decisions retreated from its more aggressive tools.

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