Category: law
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Court Allows Case Challenging Segregation in N.Y.C. Schools to Advance
“We cannot just keep on saying, ‘This problem is too big — there’s nothing we can do about it,’” Justice Sallie Manzanet-Daniels, of the Appellate Division of the State Supreme Court in Manhattan, told a lawyer for the city at the time. “Meanwhile, thousands and thousands and thousands of children keep on being graduated from…
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NAGC Files Amicus Brief in Support of Equitable Access to Exam Schools in Boston
the National Association for Gifted Children (NAGC) submitted an amicus brief to the First Circuit Court of Appeals in the case of Boston Parent Coalition for Academic Excellence Corp. v. School Committee of the City of Boston. In its brief, the Association presented published position statements, articles, and policy positions in support of the Boston…
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Civil Rights Groups Submit Amicus Brief in Support of Race-neutral Admissions Policy at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology
Appellee appears to recognize that controlling precedent foreclosed a findingof discriminatory intent, but nevertheless invited the district court to misapply thelaw in furtherance of its attempt to change the law to prevent schools across thecountry from removing known barriers to opportunity and adopting race-neutral,research-based reforms to promote equality. NAACPLDF Amicus Using past results as a…
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A new Supreme Court case makes George W. Bush look like a racial justice crusader
The 10 percent rule was enacted in response to a 1996 federal appeals court decision, which struck down an affirmative action program at UT-Austin’s law school. But it quickly took on a political life of its own. As a candidate for president, and later as president, Bush touted the 10 percent plan as a conservative…
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Separate But Free
separate is inherently unfree. As this Article uniquely clarifies, segregation deprives schoolchildren of freedom to become equal citizens and freedom to learn in democratic, integrated, and transformative settings. We must name and reclaim these positive, social, emancipatory freedoms—envisioned by the framers of state constitution education clauses, developed by early progressives, reflected in the case law,…
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Constitutional Diversity in New York’s Specialized High Schools: The SHSAT, the Discovery Program, and the Fourteenth Amendment
Even if the SHSAT was an educational necessity, it would still violate disparate impact regulations if there was an alternative available that achieved the same objective with a less discriminatory impact. The NAACP LDF found that a multi-measured approach to admissions based on quantitative and qualitative portions of an application would be equal to or…
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What to know about suit challenging alleged ‘racist’ education system in NYC
“The system reproduced by the New York City public schools is fundamentally one of caste: an artificial, graded ‘ranking of human value that sets the presumed supremacy of one group against the presumed inferiority of other groups on the basis of,’ in the United States, race,” the suit says. This system, the complaint says, is…
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The Mayor has shifted blame to state lawmakers. But he can take action now if he wants to.
If the DOE wants to get rid of the test, it can, at least for the majority of specialized schools. At five of eight specialized high schools, the City has the sole authority to end the use of the test for enrollment. In its place, the City could develop a more equitable model of assigning…
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Brown’s Lost Promise: New York City Specialized High Schools as a Case Study in the Illusory Support for Class-Based Affirmative Action
But even if the diversity rationale falls out of favor with the U.S. Supreme Court, New York City’s revamped Discovery program should not. The law that created the program and the manner in which it is applied are class-conscious, not race-conscious. And if the conservative members of the Court ultimately do rule against the City…
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The legal battle over high school entrance exams
The points made in this article cannot be overstated. The Hecht-Calandra Act may be an unknown, obscure law to many Americans, including New Yorkers. But this law may be the small crack in the armor that allows conservative legal groups to defeat all race-conscious equity schemes. McAuliffe PTO is just the latest federal case involving Asian…