Also known as: segregate · segregates · segregated · segregating · segregations · racial segregation · de jure segregation · de facto segregation
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
The act or process of separating persons or things into distinct groups. In constitutional law the term denotes the government practice of maintaining physical separation between racial groups in public facilities such as schools.
Santiago Sanchez and other District of Columbia parents sued after their children were assigned exclusively to schools serving only Black students. The federal government defended the assignments as necessary for orderly administration. The court held that the assignments constituted grossly unreasonable discrimination that violated the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment.
Sasha Stone and other Black students were denied admission to neighborhood schools reserved for white children under state statutes requiring separation by race. The students sought an order requiring admission on a nonsegregated basis. The court rejected the separate-but-equal defense and ordered the schools to admit the students without regard to race.
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Seth Shapiro challenged a state regulation that treated women differently from men in obtaining abortion services. The state defended the regulation by analogizing it to earlier policies of racial separation that had been upheld under a reasonableness test. The court rejected the analogy and applied the undue-burden standard instead.
Spencer Silver, a newspaper publisher, was sued for libel after printing an advertisement criticizing local officials who continued to enforce racial separation in public facilities. The officials argued that the advertisement contained false statements that damaged their reputations. The court held that the First Amendment protects such criticism absent actual malice.
Scott Summers and other minority families were denied permits to build integrated housing in a suburb whose zoning decisions produced racially concentrated neighborhoods. The families alleged that the decisions were motivated by a desire to maintain separation. The court examined whether the decisions reflected discriminatory intent rather than neutral policy considerations.
Simon Stern owned land that a village ordinance restricted to single-family homes, effectively preventing construction of multi-family housing that would have served a racially mixed population. Stern argued that the restriction perpetuated separation by income and race. The court upheld the ordinance as a valid exercise of police power to protect community character.
De jure segregation exists when government action intentionally separates persons by race. De facto segregation arises from private choices or socioeconomic patterns without official compulsion. Only intentional government action triggers strict scrutiny and a remedial duty.
No. Racial imbalance resulting solely from private housing patterns does not violate equal protection. A plaintiff must prove that government officials acted with discriminatory intent in assigning students or drawing district lines.
Remedies must be tailored to eliminate the effects of proven constitutional violations. Courts may not order inter-district relief or funding measures aimed at broader social goals when no inter-district violation has been shown.
Generally no. Thirty days of disciplinary segregation does not impose atypical and significant hardship relative to ordinary prison life and therefore does not create a liberty interest protected by due process.
…or authorized the publication of the alleged libel, and that the Due Process and Equal Protection Clauses were violated by racial segregation and racial bias in the courtroom. The Times contends that the assumption of jurisdiction over its corporate person by the Alabama courts overreaches the territorial limits of the Due…