AP Success - AP U.S. Gov & Pol: SCOTUS Comparison: Segregation, Responsibility & Judicial Restraint: Brown v. Board of Education (1954)

The overturning of racial segregation laws in the 1950s was a major victory for the Civil Rights Movement. However, many African Americans still lived in segregated school districts with underfunded public schools. Nowhere was this more apparent than in Detroit, where, since the Second World War, white residents had moved to the city suburbs in a process known as ‘white flight.’ 

In 1970, the NAACP sued Michigan’s Governor William Milliken, arguing that even though Detroit school districts did not pass laws promoting segregation, they were still responsible for remedying it through integration. The case made its way to the Supreme Court and became known as Milliken v. Bradley (1974).

In a 5-4 decision, the Supreme Court ruled that school districts are not responsible for segregation unless their policies were responsible for it. The ruling was a blow to the school integration movement.