Part Two - Individual Rights · Module 11
Equal Protection: Remedies for Segregation; Proving a Classification; Affirmative Action
Brown's aftermath: desegregation remedies and their limits, discriminatory purpose doctrine, and race-conscious admissions through SFFA and Callais.
Topics
Remedies for segregation and their limits. Facially neutral laws with discriminatory impact; the requirement of discriminatory purpose and how it is proven. Racial classifications benefiting minorities; race in university admissions.
Reading list
0 of 15 readings published · the rest are in preparation and will appear here as they are edited
- Note Green v. County School Board of New Kent County
- Note Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education
- Note Milliken v. Bradley
- Note Yick Wo v. Hopkins
- Opinion Washington v. Davis
- Note Village of Arlington Heights v. Metropolitan Housing Development Corp.
- Note Personnel Administrator of Massachusetts v. Feeney
- Note McCleskey v. Kemp
- Note Trump v. Hawaii
- Opinion Richmond v. J.A. Croson Co.
- Note Adarand Constructors, Inc. v. Peña
- Note Grutter v. Bollinger
- Note Parents Involved in Community Schools v. Seattle School District No. 1
- Opinion (edited) Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. President and Fellows of Harvard College
- Opinion (edited) Louisiana v. Callais, Nos. 24-109 & 24-110 (U.S. Apr. 29, 2026)
- Current case Sargent v. School District of Philadelphia, No. 24-3112 (3d Cir. Feb. 2, 2026) (whether a facially neutral geographic criterion was adopted as a proxy for race).
How to read this list
A case named without a marker is assigned as an opinion and is to be read in its entirety. Opinion (edited) means the Professor has cut it for length; the text on this site is the assigned text. Note means the case is not assigned as an opinion at all — its holding, its facts to the extent they matter, and its place in the doctrinal line are given in a note written for this course, and you are responsible for that note exactly as you are responsible for an assigned opinion. Most modules close with a Current case, a recent decision chosen because it shows the doctrine you have just read being applied at its live edge; current cases are assigned as opinions. You are responsible for all assigned required materials, including the notes, questions, problems and commentary that accompany the cases, whether or not we discuss them in class.