Meredith v. Jefferson County Board of Education

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Meredith v. Jefferson County Board of Education is a case heard before the United States Supreme Court in December 2006 regarding racial quotas in public education. The U.S. Supreme Court is expected to decide the case in Spring 2007.

[edit] Facts of the case

Crystal Meredith (and some other parents) filed suit on behalf of their children, all of whom were white students in the Jefferson County Public Schools system. Meredith was denied her request to transfer her son to her son's neighborhood school, because such transfer would have not been in compliance with the Jefferson County Public Schools student assignment plan. Other parents involved in the suit claimed that their children were unlawfully denied entry into magnet schools. The plan called for students to be assigned to schools based on quotas of not less than 15% nor greater than 50% African American.

[edit] Procedural history

The trial court ruled in favor of the school district, holding that the Plan satisfied the "compelling interest" requirement of the Supreme Court's equal protection (14th Amendment) decisions, and also holding that the student assignment plan satisfied the "narrow tailoring" requirement of those decisions. Only Meredith appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, which upheld the trial court's decision. Meredith then appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court.