1. Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education, (1971)
2. Facts: In Charlotte, N.C., the school in a metorpolitan area was not becoming racially desegregated, and so the lower court instituted a busing plan, and a grouping plan to affirmatively integrate the schools to represent the underlying racial representation in the population.
3. Issue: Whether the district court had the constitutional authority to force integration in the schools.
4. Holding: Yes.
5. Reasoning: The court may excercise broad equitable remedial powers when there is a constitutional violation, as there was here. The mathematical ratio proposed by the lower court of 71% to 29% is not a rigid requirement, but it is a starting point and well within the courts power to use mathematical ratios to ensure desegregation in practice. The transfer arrangement is also valid, given that the students are provided free transportation and that room is made for them at the target school. Even though this will be inconvenient and appear bizzare, it is necessary in the short term to overcome years of building infrastructure designed to support segregation. Thus, pairing and grouping is valid. Lastly, the use of school buses is widely practiced and may be employed as a means of forcing integration.
