| Griffin v. School Board | ||||||
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Supreme Court of the United States |
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| Argued March 30, 1964 Decided May 25, 1964 |
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| Full case name | Griffin v. County School Board of Prince Edward County | |||||
| Holding | ||||||
| Closing public schools for the sole purpose of race and providing incentives to attend private segregated schools are violations of the Equal Protection Clause. United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit reversed. | ||||||
| Court membership | ||||||
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| Case opinions | ||||||
| Majority | Black, joined by Warren, Douglas, Brennan, Stewart, White, Goldberg, Clark (in part), Harlan (in part) | |||||
| Laws applied | ||||||
| U.S. Const. Amend. XIV | ||||||
Griffin v. County School Board of Prince Edward County, 377 U.S. 218 (1964), is a case decided by the Supreme Court of the United States in which it ruled that the County School Board of Prince Edward County's decision to close all local, public schools and provide vouchers to attend private schools were declared constitutionally impermissible and violations under the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.
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In light of the court's holding in Brown v. Board of Education, Virginia initiated a coordinated policy known as massive resistance to maintain segregationist policies. A legislative package known as the Stanley plan was enacted. Numerous public schools had been closed through the tactics of massive resistance, but Prince Edward County took the unusual and extreme measure of closing all of its public schools after being ordered to integrate the public schools under its jurisdiction in June 1959.
In the absence of public schools, Prince Edward County provided tuition grants to its students – Black or White. No private schools existed for Blacks, as all private schools in the region remained segregated. An offer was made and rejected to establish a private school for Blacks. This was, in part, because many of the Black residents of Prince Edward County wanted "to continue the legal battle for desegregated public schools."[1] Subsequently, "colored children were without formal education from 1959 to 1963, when federal, state, and county authorities cooperated to have classes conducted for Negroes and whites in school buildings owned by the county."[1]
For the same reasons the District Court may, if necessary to prevent further racial discrimination, require the Supervisors to exercise the power that is theirs to levy taxes to raise funds adequate to reopen, operate, and maintain without racial discrimination a public school system in Prince Edward County like that operated in other counties in Virginia.—Griffin v. School Bd. of Prince Edward Cty., 377 US 218 - Supreme Court 1964
This case marked the first time that the Supreme Court ordered a county government to exercise their power of taxation.[2]