Latino Action Network v. New Jersey

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Latino Action Network v. New Jersey
Court New Jersey Superior Court
Mercer County, New Jersey Superior Court
Full case nameLatino Action Network et al. v. The State of New Jersey et al.
Court membership
Judge(s) sitting Robert Lougy

Latino Action Network v. New Jersey is a lawsuit filed on May 17, 2018, on the anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education which claims that the State of New Jersey provides separate and unequal schools to minority children in violation of their constitutional rights and that there is segregation in New Jersey public schools.

Contents

The state's largest teachers union, the New Jersey Education Association, supports the case. [1]

History and current procedural status

In April 2019, it was reported that settlement talks had broken down. [2]

In March 2022, Judge Robert Lougy held a hearing in the matter and, as of October 2022,[ needs update ] the parties await a ruling. [3] [4] [5]

Lawyers

The plaintiffs are represented by Gary Saul Stein's son, Michael Stein of Pashman Stein Walder Hayden in Hackensack, New Jersey, as well as by Lawrence Lustberg of Gibbons in Newark. [6] Lustberg helped lead Governor Phil Murphy's transition team on law. [7]

Plaintiffs

The suit was filed on behalf of the NAACP New Jersey State Conference, the Latino Coalition, Latino Action Network, Urban League of Essex County, the United Methodist Church of Greater New Jersey, and nine children who attend school in segregated school districts. [6]

Gary S. Stein, father of plaintiffs' attorney Michael Stein and former associate justice of the New Jersey Supreme Court, and Ryan Haygood, an alum of Murphy's transition team, recently helped form the New Jersey Coalition for Diverse and Inclusive Schools, to help orchestrate the case. [8] [9]

One of the child plaintiffs is the son of Murphy transition team member Jon Whiten. [10] [11]

Chris Estevez, also an alum of Murphy's transition team as a union representative, additionally helps lead the case as president of the Latino Action Network. [12] [13]

Plaintiffs' arguments

The complaint argues that the state "has been complicit in the creation and persistence of school segregation" by adopting policies that "deny an alarming number of Black and Latino students the benefits of a thorough and efficient education." [14]

They also assert that charter schools in New Jersey are as segregated as "the most intensely segregated urban public schools," if not more so segregated. [15]

Proposed remedies

Some, such as Senator Ronald Rice, have suggested forced busing as a remedy to the segregation in 2019. Others have suggested countywide school districts as a remedy. [16]

Concerns

Busing and merger

Some, such as Minority Leader Jon Bramnick, have expressed concerns that the desegregation suit could lead to forced merger of school districts, forced desegregation busing, and forced lottery systems whereby children would not be permitted to attend their neighborhood school. [17]

Racial categorization controversy

The plaintiffs' lawsuit asserts that NJ schools are "segregated" because of a concentration of African-American and "Latino" children in certain districts, with very few "white" students. Over 65% of U.S. Latinos, however, identify as "White." Just over 2% identify as "Black." The remainder identify as some other race or two or more races. [18]

In 2019, the conservative Pacific Legal Foundation filed a federal lawsuit arguing that Connecticut's magnet schools are discriminatory by capping the enrollment of black and Hispanic students in magnet schools at 75%, while no less than 25% of students were permitted to be white or Asian. [19]

See also

Related Research Articles

Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, 347 U.S. 483 (1954), was a landmark decision by the U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled that U.S. state laws establishing racial segregation in public schools are unconstitutional, even if the segregated schools are otherwise equal in quality. The decision partially overruled the Court's 1896 decision Plessy v. Ferguson, which had held that racial segregation laws did not violate the U.S. Constitution as long as the facilities for each race were equal in quality, a doctrine that had come to be known as "separate but equal". The Court's decision in Brown paved the way for integration and was a major victory of the civil rights movement, and a model for many future impact litigation cases.

Milliken v. Bradley, 418 U.S. 717 (1974), was a significant United States Supreme Court case dealing with the planned desegregation busing of public school students across district lines among 53 school districts in metropolitan Detroit. It concerned the plans to integrate public schools in the United States following the Brown v. Board of Education (1954) decision.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Desegregation busing</span> Effort to diversify the racial make-up of schools in the United States

Race-integration busing in the United States was the practice of assigning and transporting students to schools within or outside their local school districts in an effort to diversify the racial make-up of schools. While the 1954 U.S. Supreme Court landmark decision in Brown v. Board of Education declared racial segregation in public schools unconstitutional, many American schools continued to remain largely uni-racial due to housing inequality. In an effort to address the ongoing de facto segregation in schools, the 1971 Supreme Court decision, Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education, ruled that the federal courts could use busing as a further integration tool to achieve racial balance.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jon Bramnick</span> Member of the New Jersey Senate

Jon M. Bramnick is an American Republican Party politician, who has served in the New Jersey Senate since 2022, representing the 21st legislative district. He previously served in the New Jersey General Assembly, representing the 21st Legislative District from 2003 to 2022, He also previously served as the Assembly Republican Leader from January 2012 to January 2022. He was appointed to the Assembly in 2003 to fill the unexpired term of the vacancy created upon the selection of Thomas Kean Jr. to fill an unexpired New Jersey Senate term. He was elected to a full two-year term later that year and was re-elected in 2005, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2013, 2015, 2017 and 2019. He was elected to the New Jersey Senate in 2021.

Allen v. Wright, 468 U.S. 737 (1984), was a United States Supreme Court case that determined that citizens do not have standing to sue a federal government agency based on the influence that the agency's determinations might have on third parties.

Browder v. Gayle, 142 F. Supp. 707 (1956), was a case heard before a three-judge panel of the United States District Court for the Middle District of Alabama on Montgomery and Alabama state bus segregation laws. The panel consisted of Middle District of Alabama Judge Frank Minis Johnson, Northern District of Alabama Judge Seybourn Harris Lynne, and Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Richard Rives. The main plaintiffs in the case were Aurelia Browder, Claudette Colvin, Susie McDonald, and Mary Louise Smith. Jeanetta Reese had originally been a plaintiff in the case, but intimidation by segregationists caused her to withdraw in February. She falsely claimed she had not agreed to the lawsuit, which led to an unsuccessful attempt to disbar Fred Gray for supposedly improperly representing her.

<i>Mendez v. Westminster</i> Appeals court case concerning constitutionality of Mexican segregated schools

Mendez, et al v. Westminister [sic] School District of Orange County, et al, 64 F.Supp. 544, aff'd, 161 F.2d 774, was a 1947 federal court case that challenged Mexican remedial schools in four districts in Orange County, California. In its ruling, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, in an en banc decision, held that the forced segregation of Mexican American students into separate "Mexican schools" was unconstitutional because as US District Court Judge Paul J. McCormick stated, "The evidence clearly shows that Spanish-speaking children are retarded in learning English by lack of exposure to its use because of segregation, and that commingling of the entire student body instills and develops a common cultural attitude among the school children which is imperative for the perpetuation of American institutions and ideals."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sylvia Mendez</span> American civil rights activist

Sylvia Mendez is an American civil rights activist and retired nurse. At age eight, she played an instrumental role in the Mendez v. Westminster case, the landmark desegregation case of 1946. The case successfully ended de jure segregation in California and paved the way for integration and the American civil rights movement.

The Lemon Grove Case, commonly known as the Lemon Grove Incident, was the United States' first successful school desegregation case. The incident occurred in 1930 and 1931 in Lemon Grove, California, where the local school board attempted to build a separate school for children of Mexican origin. On March 30, 1931, the Superior Court of San Diego County ruled that the local school board's attempt to segregate 75 Mexican and Mexican American elementary school children was a violation of California state laws because ethnic Mexicans were considered White under the state's Education Code. Although often overlooked in the history of school desegregation, the Lemon Grove Case is increasingly heralded as the first victory over segregative educational practices and as a testimony to the Mexican immigrant parents who effectively utilized the U.S. legal system to protect their children's rights.

Zelma Henderson was the last surviving plaintiff in the 1954 landmark federal school desegregation case, Brown v. Board of Education. The case outlawed segregation nationwide in all of the United States' public schools. The ruling served as a harbinger of the American Civil Rights Movement and paved the way for the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which outlawed segregation in all public facilities.

Morgan v. Hennigan was the case that defined the school busing controversy in Boston, Massachusetts during the 1970s. On March 14, 1972, the Boston chapter of the NAACP filed a class action lawsuit against the Boston School Committee on behalf of 14 black parents and 44 children. Tallulah Morgan headed the list of plaintiffs, and James Hennigan, then chair of the School Committee, was listed as the main defendant.

Hocutt v. Wilson, N.C. Super. Ct. (1933) (unreported), was the first attempt to desegregate higher education in the United States. It was initiated by two African American lawyers from Durham, North Carolina, Conrad O. Pearson and Cecil McCoy, with the support of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). The case was ultimately dismissed for lack of standing, but it served as a test case for challenging the "separate but equal" doctrine in education and was a precursor to Brown v. Board of Education, 347 U.S. 483 (1954).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Felicitas Méndez</span> Puerto Rican activist

Felicitas Gómez Martínez de Mendez was a Puerto Rican activist in the American civil rights movement. In 1946, Mendez and her husband Gonzalo led an educational civil rights battle that changed California and set an important legal precedent for ending de jure segregation in the United States. Their landmark desegregation case, known as Mendez v. Westminster, paved the way for meaningful integration and public school reform.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">School segregation in the United States</span> Racial separation in schools

Segregation in schools has a long history in the United States and American schools are more racially segregated now than in the late 1960s, when segregation laws were finally dismantled by the U.S. Supreme Court. Segregation was practiced in the north and segregation continued longstanding exclusionary policies in much of the South after the Civil War. School integration in the United States took place at different times in different areas and often met resistance. Jim Crow laws codified segregation. These laws were influenced by the history of slavery and discrimination in the US. Secondary schools for African Americans in the South were called training schools instead of high schools in order to appease racist whites and focused on vocational education. After the ruling of Brown v. Board of Education, which banned segregated school laws, school segregation took de facto form. School segregation declined rapidly during the late 1960s and early 1970s as the government became strict on schools' plans to combat segregation more effectively as a result of Green v. County School Board of New Kent County. However, voluntary segregation appears to have increased since 1990 based on decreases in the amount of interactions between black and white students, also known as the black-white exposure index, and the resegregation of Black People in public schools. Residential segregation in the United States and school choice, both historically and currently, have had a considerable effect on school segregation. Not only does the current segregation of neighborhoods and schools in the US affect social issues and practices, but it is considered by some to be a factor in the achievement gap between Black and white students. Some authors such as Jerry Roziek and Ta-Nehisi Coates highlight the importance of tackling the root concept of racism instead of desegregation efforts that arise as a result of the end of de jure segregation. Along with educational and social outcomes, the average income and occupational aspirations of minority households that are products of segregated schooling have worse outcomes than the products of desegregated schooling.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">School integration in the United States</span> Racial desegregation process

In the United States, school integration is the process of ending race-based segregation within American public and private schools. Racial segregation in schools existed throughout most of American history and remains an issue in contemporary education. During the Civil Rights Movement school integration became a priority, but since then de facto segregation has again become prevalent.

The Citywide Educational Coalition (CWEC) is a tax-exempt, non-profit educational reform organization whose goal is to provide reliable and objective information on the Boston Public Schools to parents and citizens, enabling citizens to participate in policy making directly and through their school committee and increasing support for public education in Boston, Massachusetts.

New Jersey has some of the most segregated schools in the United States. Despite laws promoting school integration since 1881, a 2017 study by the UCLA Civil Rights Project found that New Jersey has the sixth-most segregated classrooms in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2021 New Jersey gubernatorial election</span>

The 2021 New Jersey gubernatorial election was held on November 2, 2021, to elect the governor of New Jersey.

Hedgepeth and Williams v. Board of Education, Trenton, NJ, 131 N.J.L. 153, 35 A.2d 622 (1944), also known as the Hedgepeth–Williams case, was a landmark New Jersey Supreme Court decision decided in 1944. The Court ruled that since racial segregation was outlawed by the New Jersey State Constitution, it was unlawful for schools to segregate or refuse admission to students on the basis of race. The case led to the formal desegregation of New Jersey public schools and was a precursor to Brown v. Board of Education.

<i>Delgado v. Bastrop ISD</i>

Delgado V. Bastrop Independent School District was a Federal Circuit court case based out of Bastrop county that ruled against the segregation of Mexican-Americans in the public schools of Texas. The court's decision was argued on the standpoint of the Mendez et al. v. Westminster et al. court case and lack of Texas law for segregation of those of Mexican descent, and also stated that Mexican-Americans were separate from African-Americans as had been ruled in Plessy v. Ferguson. This case stated that except for the instance of separating individuals based on severe language difficulties in first grade, the school districts could not segregate their schools between Anglos and Mexican-Americans; moreover, the local school leaders and districts needed to take active action against it or they would also be liable for the results of segregated education. Though this case helped establish a baseline in the law against Mexican-American segregation in public schools, it took many more years and future lawsuits for action to follow through with the actual rulings of the court.

References

  1. O'Dea, Colleen (May 20, 2018). "New Jersey hit with major lawsuit arguing it must end school segregation". WHYY. Archived from the original on July 4, 2018. Retrieved July 15, 2018.
  2. "Settlement Talks Break Down in School Desegregation Lawsuit | New Jersey Law Journal". Archived from the original on February 21, 2021. Retrieved April 10, 2019.
  3. Wildstein, David (March 7, 2022). "Bramnick backs constitutional amendment that require students to attend hometown school". New Jersey Globe.
  4. https://www.njspotlightnews.org/2022/03/school-desegregation-lawsuit-dismiss-latino-action-network-naacp-new-jersey/
  5. "Will New Jersey desegregate its schools? Ruling in 2018 lawsuit expected". North Jersey Media Group.
  6. 1 2 "NJ Coalition for Diverse & Inclusive Schools". Archived from the original on July 18, 2018. Retrieved July 18, 2018.
  7. "Murphy releases full transition team membership". ROINJ. November 20, 2017. Archived from the original on July 13, 2018. Retrieved July 15, 2018.
  8. Levine, Carolia (May 21, 2018). "Nonprofit Coalition Sues to Desegregate New Jersey Schools". Nonprofit Quarterly. Archived from the original on June 14, 2018. Retrieved July 15, 2018.
  9. Khemlani, Anjalee (November 13, 2017). "Committee co-chairs on Murphy's transition team are a diverse lot". ROI-NJ. Archived from the original on July 20, 2018. Retrieved July 15, 2018.
  10. "Jon Whiten – New Jersey Policy Perspective -". www.njpp.org. Archived from the original on June 14, 2018. Retrieved June 14, 2018.
  11. How segregated are New Jersey's schools and what can be done about it? https://njersy.co/2zCwUBO Archived February 21, 2021, at the Wayback Machine via @northjersey
  12. Keough, Lee (March 3, 2016). "Profile: A Latino Advocate with a Family Legacy of Revolution and Activism". NJ Spotlight. Archived from the original on February 21, 2021. Retrieved July 15, 2018.
  13. Otterman, Sharon (May 17, 2018). "New Jersey Law Codifies School Segregation, Suit Says". The New York Times. Archived from the original on February 21, 2021. Retrieved July 15, 2018.
  14. Toutant, Charles (May 17, 2018). "Suit Aimed at Ending NJ School Segregation Targets Role of Charter Schools". New Jersey Law Journal. Archived from the original on July 10, 2018. Retrieved July 15, 2018.
  15. Suit Aimed at Ending NJ School Segregation Targets Role of Charter Schools https://at.law.com/3SbkrT Archived February 21, 2021, at the Wayback Machine via @NJLJ
  16. "Group May Head Back to Court over Lack of NJ School Desegregation - NJ Spotlight". Archived from the original on March 21, 2019. Retrieved April 6, 2019.
  17. Clark, Adam (May 29, 2018). "Will my child be forced to switch schools? What you need to know about desegregation suit". NJ.com. Archived from the original on June 14, 2018. Retrieved July 15, 2018.
  18. Source: CNN Fast Facts: Hispanics In the US (3/22/2018) https://www.cnn.com/2013/09/20/us/hispanics-in-the-u-s-/index.html Archived July 21, 2018, at the Wayback Machine
  19. Cohen, Rachel M. (February 11, 2019). "A Lawsuit Threatens a Groundbreaking School-Desegregation Case". The Nation. ISSN   0027-8378. Archived from the original on February 21, 2021. Retrieved March 27, 2019.