United States Supreme Court Cases & Opinions

U.S. Supreme Court

Goss v. Board of Education, 373 U.S. 683 (1963)

Goss v. Board of Education of Knoxville, Tennessee

No. 217

Argued March 20-21, 1963

Decided June 3, 1963

373 U.S. 683

Syllabus

Negro pupils and their parents sued in two Federal District Courts in Tennessee to desegregate racially segregated public schools. In each case, a desegregation plan submitted to the District Court by the school board provided for the rezoning of school districts without reference to race; but each plan contained a transfer provision under which any student, upon request, would be permitted, solely on the basis of his own race and the racial composition of the school to which he was assigned by virtue of rezoning, to transfer from such school, where he would be in the racial minority, back to his former segregated school, where his race would be in the majority. These plans were approved by the respective District Courts and the Court of Appeals.

Held: Insofar as they approve such transfer provisions, the judgments of the Court of Appeals are reversed, since such transfer plans are based on racial factors which inevitably would lead toward segregation of students by race, contrary to this Court's admonition in Brown v. Board of Education, 349 U. S. 294. Pp. 373 U. S. 684-689.

301 F.2d 164, 828, reversed in part and causes remanded.

Page 373 U. S. 684