McDaniel v. Barresi

McDaniel v. Barresi: Facts of the Case

McDaniel v. Barresi: The Court’s Ruling

In McDaniel v. Barresi (1971), the U.S. Supreme Court was asked to determine whether a school board that was found to have maintained an unconstitutionally segregated system could implement a desegregation plan by affirmatively redrawing geographic attendance zones for the specific purpose of establishing a greater racial balance in its schools. The primary issue in McDaniel was whether school officials could constitutionally take race into account when assigning elementary school children to specified schools in order to effectuate a desegregation order. The Supreme Court said yes.

Aimee R. Vergon

See also Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka; Civil Rights Act of 1964; Dual and Unitary Systems; Green v. County School Board of New Kent County; Parents Involved in Community Schools v. Seattle School District No. 1; Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education

Legal Citations

• Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka I, 347 U.S. 483 (1954).
• Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka II, 349 U.S. 294 (1955).
• Green v. County School Board of New Kent County, 391 U.S. 430 (1968).
• McDaniel v. Barresi, 402 U.S. 39 (McDaniel, 1971).
• North Carolina Board of Education v. Swann, 402 U.S. 43 (1971).
• Parents Involved in Community Schools v. Seattle School District No. 1, 127 S. Ct. 2738 (2007).
• Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education, 402 U.S. 1 (1971).