WASHINGTON v. SEATTLE SCHOOL DISTRICT NO. 1 458 U.S. 457 (1982) CASE BRIEF

WASHINGTON V. SEATTLE SCHOOL DISTRICT NO. 1

458 U.S. 457 (1982)

NATURE OF THE CASE: Seattle (P) challenged a statewide initiative that terminated mandatory busing under Equal Protection and the Fourteenth Amendment. Washington (D) appealed a decision of the District Court which held the initiative unconstitutional which was affirmed by the Court of Appeals.

FACTS: Because segregated housing patterns in Seattle have created racially imbalanced schools, P historically has taken steps to alleviate the isolation of minority students; since 1963, it has permitted students to transfer from their neighborhood schools to help cure the District's racial imbalance. Eventually P enacted a resolution defining 'racial imbalance' as 'the situation that exists when the combined minority student enrollment in a school exceeds the district wide combined average by 20 percentage points, provided that the single minority enrollment . . . of no school will exceed 50 percent of the student body.' P implemented a 'magnet' program, designed to alleviate racial isolation by enhancing educational offerings at certain schools, thereby encouraging voluntary student transfers. P concluded that mandatory reassignment of students was necessary if racial isolation in its schools was to be eliminated. P enacted the so-called 'Seattle Plan' for desegregation. The plan makes extensive use of busing and mandatory reassignments, desegregates elementary schools by 'pairing' and 'trading' predominantly minority with predominantly white attendance areas, and by basing student assignments on attendance zones rather than on race. The implementation was effective. The District Court found that the Seattle Plan 'has substantially reduced the number of racially imbalanced schools in the district and has substantially reduced the percentage of minority students in those schools which remain racially imbalanced.' The counterrevolution was swift and immediate. A proposal, known as Initiative 350, provided that 'no school board . . . shall directly or indirectly require any student to attend a school other than the school which is geographically nearest or next nearest the student's place of residence . . . and which offers the course of study pursued by such student . . . .' Initiative 350 was placed on the Washington ballot for the November 1978 general election. The initiative was directed solely at desegregative busing in general, and at the Seattle Plan in particular. Initiative 350 passed by a substantial margin, drawing almost 66% of the vote statewide. P initiated this suit against the State (D) in District Court challenging the constitutionality of Initiative 350 under the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. The district court held the statute to be unconstitutional, and the court of appeals affirmed. The Supreme Court granted certiorari.

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