This essay takes up two separate but related issues: how the courts have resolved disputes over race and schooling and how they should resolve such disputes. This essay is in reply to a related essay, in which another author identified the consequences of what he perceived as a minimalist judicial role and called for greater exercise of…

Discusses developments in school integration from the early 1960's to the present, concludes that all that can be done on the national level is to distribute money and establish minimum standards. "Beyond that, Washington can only encourage state and local educators, working within their own political frameworks, to indentify the best way of…

Kirp examines the evolution of Supreme Court doctrine since the Brown decision, the course of specific desegregation cases, and the interchange between political institutions and the courts at the local level. He reveals that the decision-making process in school desegregation is both political and constitutional. (Author/SK)

Varied reactions within Richmond, California, to efforts to achieve racially balanced schools were analyzed in this article. The authors state their intention was to unravel the complexities of a policy problem in one community--not to pronounce unequivocal judgment on resolutions achieved. (Author/DB)

Provides a detailed look at the judicial and legal challenges that have plagued school desegregation since Brown v. Topeka. Maintains that from the moral high point of Little Rock, Arkansas, segregation rapidly descended into the swamp of defiance, evasion, avoidance, and delay. Concludes that very little real progress has been made. (MJP)