Washington v. Seattle Sch. Dist. No. 1 - 458 U.S. 457, 102 S. Ct. 3187 (1982)

Rule:

Laws structuring political institutions or allocating political power according to neutral principles, such as the executive veto, or the typically burdensome requirements for amending state constitutions, are not subject to equal protection attack, though they may make it more difficult for minorities to achieve favorable legislation. Because such laws make it more difficult for every group in the community to enact comparable laws, they provide a just framework within which the diverse political groups in our society may fairly compete. But a different analysis is required when the state allocates governmental power nonneutrally, by explicitly using the racial nature of a decision to determine the decision-making process. State action of this kind places special burdens on racial minorities within the governmental process, thereby making it more difficult for certain racial and religious minorities than for other members of the community to achieve legislation that is in their interest.

Facts:

In 1978, appellee Seattle School District No. 1 (District) enacted the so-called Seattle Plan for desegregation of its schools. The plan makes extensive use of mandatory busing. Subsequently, a statewide initiative (Initiative 350) was drafted to terminate the use of mandatory busing for purposes of racial integration in the public schools of the State of Washington. The initiative prohibits school boards from requiring any student to attend a school other than the one geographically nearest or next nearest to his home. It sets out a number of broad exceptions to this requirement, however: a student may be assigned beyond his neighborhood school if he requires special educational programs, or if the nearest or next nearest school is overcrowded or unsafe, or if it lacks necessary physical facilities. These exceptions permit school boards to assign students away from their neighborhood schools for virtually all of the non-integrative purposes required by their educational policies. After the initiative was passed at the November 1978 general election, the District, together with two other districts, brought suit against appellant State in Federal District Court, challenging the constitutionality of Initiative 350 under the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. The District Court held the initiative unconstitutional on the ground, inter alia, that it established an impermissible racial classification in violation of Hunter v. Erickson, 393 U.S. 385, and Lee v. Nyquist, 318 F.Supp. 710 (WDNY), summarily aff'd, 402 U.S. 935, "because it permits busing for non-racial reasons but forbids it for racial reasons." The court permanently enjoined implementation of the initiative's restrictions. The Court of Appeals affirmed.

Issue:

May an elected local school board use the Fourteenth Amendment to defend its program of busing for integration from attack by the State?

Answer:

No.

Conclusion:

The Court held that Initiative 350 created a constitutionally suspect racial classification and radically restructured the political process of state by allowing a statewide majority to usurp traditional local authority over local school board educational policies. The Court held that the initiative was unconstitutional because it did not allocate governmental power on the basis of any general principle but instead used the racial nature of an issue to define the governmental decision-making structure. The Court concluded that the reallocation of decision-making authority imposed substantial and unique burdens on racial minorities.