As soon as once more, the mainstream media is distorting the information. Following the Justice Division’s latest dismissal of a decades-old desegregation case in Louisiana, critics rushed to border the motion as a rollback of civil rights or, worse, a return to racial segregation in faculties. However the information do not support this narrative.
In 1966, the U.S. Division of Justice filed a lawsuit to desegregate faculties in Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana. The ensuing federal consent decree mandated the dismantling of the district’s racially segregated college system.
By 1975, the courtroom discovered the district had achieved integration. Nevertheless, the case remained open for many years because of administrative oversight, together with the loss of life of the presiding decide, and no formal courtroom motion was ever taken to shut it.
In April 2025, as a part of a broader evaluate of dormant circumstances, the DOJ beneath the Trump administration formally moved to dismiss the order.
In line with a joint submitting with Louisiana Legal professional Common Liz Murrill, there had been “zero motion by the courtroom, the events or any third-party” in almost 50 years.
The DOJ’s official press launch, titled “Justice Division Dismisses Half Century Previous Louisiana Consent Decree,” acknowledged: “No longer will the Plaquemines Parish Faculty Board must commit valuable native sources over an integration problem that ended two generations in the past,” mentioned Assistant Legal professional Common Harmeet Okay. Dhillon.
For the varsity district, remaining beneath the outdated courtroom order meant compiling and submitting annual knowledge to the DOJ on hiring practices, pupil self-discipline, and demographics. It imposed a bureaucratic burden on a small district with fewer than 4,000 college students.
Native officers described the method as time-consuming and pointless, diverting restricted employees and sources from extra urgent instructional wants.
For the DOJ, sustaining the inactive case consumed time and a spotlight that may very well be higher directed towards lively civil rights enforcement.
Regardless of these information, critics shortly claimed the dismissal would result in “resegregation.”
Civil rights teams and commentators cited analysis suggesting that faculty districts launched from federal oversight usually turn into much less racially numerous over time.
However this interpretation stretches the which means of “segregation” past its authorized and constitutional definition. And the truth that a faculty turns into much less numerous doesn’t meet the definition of segregated.
To be clear, there is no such thing as a regulation, beneath Trump or another administration, that enables public faculties in the USA to reinstate racial segregation.
Segregation in public training was struck down in 1954 by the Supreme Court docket in Brown v. Board of Training and stays unconstitutional right this moment.
Any try by a faculty district to segregate college students by race can be swiftly challenged and overturned in courtroom.
So, what does “resegregation” actually imply in these criticisms? It doesn’t discuss with a return to legally mandated racial separation. Fairly, it describes de facto racial imbalance, faculties changing into predominantly one race not by regulation or coverage, however because of residential patterns, college zoning, and financial components.
If a largely Black neighborhood feeds into an area college, that faculty might have a majority-Black pupil physique, however that isn’t segregation beneath the regulation.
Some tutorial research have discovered that districts launched from federal desegregation orders typically see lowered racial variety. However correlation doesn’t equal causation.
These shifts usually outcome from the top of court-ordered insurance policies—corresponding to busing, racial quotas, or switch schemes—meant to artificially stability college demographics to match nationwide racial ratios.
With out these mandates, faculties are likely to mirror the pure racial and financial make-up of their native neighborhoods. Ending a dormant desegregation order doesn’t trigger segregation; it merely acknowledges that the district is not violating the Structure.
Greater than 130 college districts throughout the South stay beneath related DOJ desegregation orders. The Trump administration has signaled curiosity in reviewing extra of those long-dormant circumstances.
In sum, the DOJ’s motion in Louisiana was a routine authorized closure of a resolved case. It doesn’t change the regulation, repeal civil rights protections, or permit racial discrimination in training. Misrepresenting authorized housekeeping as racial backsliding solely sows mistrust and distracts from the true work of bettering instructional outcomes.
