Memo in Support of Motion for Planning
Working File
January 1, 1973
3 pages
Cite this item
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Case Files, Milliken Hardbacks. Memo in Support of Motion for Planning, 1973. 7a6b1620-54e9-ef11-a730-7c1e5247dfc0. LDF Archives, Thurgood Marshall Institute. https://ldfrecollection.org/archives/archives-search/archives-item/000f7674-530c-4dc2-bd8b-38322f49f631/memo-in-support-of-motion-for-planning. Accessed November 23, 2025.
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UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
EASTERN DISTRICT OF MICHIGAN
SOUTHERN DIVISION
)
RONALD BRADLEY, et al., )
)
Plaintiffs, )
)
v. )
)
WILLIAM G. MILLIKEN, )
)
Defendants, )
)and )
)
DENISE MAGDOWSKI, )
)
Defendants- )
Intervenors, )
)
and )
)
ALLEN PARK, et al., )
)
Defendants- )
Intervenors, )
)
and j
KERRY GREEN, et al., )
)
Defendants- )
Intervenors, )
- )
and )
)
WAYNE COUNTY INTERMEDIATE )
SCHOOL DISTRICT, et al., )
)
Added Defendants. )
........... )
MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF MOTION TO
REQUIRE PLANNING TO PROCEED
1. "Delay is no longer tolerable" in fashioning and
implementing an effective plan for the desegregation of the
Detroit public schools." Bradley v. Milliken, ____F.2d____
(Nos. 72-1809 - 72-1814, June 12, 1973 en banc) Slip Op. 71.
2. "The panel appointed by the District Court is
authorized to proceed with its studies and planning under
the direction of the District Court. Pending further orders
of the District Court or this Court, the defendants and school
districts involved will continue to supply administrative
and staff assistance to the panel upon its request. Until
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further order of the court, the reasonable costs incurred by
the panel will be paid as provided by the District Court’s
order of June 14, 1972" Ibid. at 69.
3. The District Court’s Order of June 14, 1972
provides in pertinent part: ’’The parties, their agents, employees,
successors and all others having actual notice of this
Order shall cooperate fully with the panel in their assigned
mission including, but not limited to, the provision of
data and reasonable full and part-time assistance as requested
by the panel....All reasonable costs incurred by the panel
shall be borne by the State Defendants; provided, however,
that staff assistance or other services provided by any
school district, its employees or agents shall be without
charge and the cost thereof shall be borne by such school
district.” Order for Development of Plan of Desegregation,
June 14, 1972, Part I.C., aff’d in pertinent part,
Ibid, at 69.
4. The panel and the State Superintendent submitted
reports on July 24, July 29, and August 31, 1972. The views
and suggestions of several of the parties were made known
to the panel and the Court by responses filed in September;
similar opportunity can be provided to all additional parties
without delay or inconvenience. Guidelines for further
planning, however, are set forth in full in Part VIII of the
Opinion of the Court of Appeals in Bradley v. Milliken (Nos.
72-1809 - 72-1814, June 12, 1973 en banc) Slip Op. 70-80.
5. Planning should proceed immediately so that full
interim and/or final plans of desegregation— and any alternatives
and objections— may be before the Court and the parties to
the end that all the parties may have a full opportunity to
be heard on all relevant issues and an effective plan for the
desegregation of the Detroit public schools can be implemented
at the earliest practicable date.
6. On the b asis of the Court’s prior findings of
illegal school segregation, the obligation of defendants
is to adopt and implement a sound and practicable plan of
desegregation that promises realistically to achieve now
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and hereafter the greatest possible degree of actual school
desegregation taking into account the practicalities of the
situation and to substitute for theJblack schools and white
a r o w t-fW
schools found/just schools now and hereafter. E.g., Green v.
— —---ty. Sch°01 ♦ ■» 391 U.S. 430; Swann v, Charlotte-Mecklenberg
— of_ Ed. , 402 U.S. 1; Davis v, Bd. of School Commissioners,
402 U.S. 33; Bradley v. Milliken, supra, Slip Op. In view
of the circumstances of this case, however, state defendants
bear the initial burden of going forward with proof.
7. The schedule and procedure set forth in the attached
proposed order permit the Court and the parties to so proceed,
and the proposed order provides a fair and reasonable method for
the Court and the parties to proceed as set forth in the opinion,
rulings and remand of the Court of Appeals of June 12, 1973.
Slip Op. 67-70.
8. "[T]he legislature of the State of Michigan has power
to provide a complete remedy for the unconstitutional segregation
disclosed in this record. It, too, has responsibility for
following the great mandates of the United States Constitution.
If, however, the legislature fails to act or if it acts in
a manner inconsistent with the expeditious and efficient
elimination of the unconstitutional practices and conditions
described in this opinion, the District Court shall proceed
to fashion such a remedy, including an interim remedy, if found
to be necessary, as it shall determine to be appropriate within
the guidelines of this opinion.11 Ibid. at 68. The proposed
schedule gives the legislature the opportunity to act and is
subject to alteration to accomodate appropriate action by the
legislature. See Slip Op.
Respectfully submitted,
LOUIS R. LUCAS
WILLIAM E. CALDWELL
Ratner, Sugermon & Lucas
525 Commerce Title Bldg.
Memphis, Tennessee
NATHANIEL JONES
General Counsel
N.A.A.C.P.
1790 Broadway
New York, New York 10019
PAUL R. DIMOND
906 Rose Avenue
Ann Arbor, Michigan 48104
313-769-8899
J. HAROLD FLANNERY
ROBERT PRESSMAN
Center for Law & Education
61 Kirkland St.
Cambridge, Mass. 02138
JACK GREENBERG
NORMAN J. CHACHKIN
10 Columbus Circle, New York, N.Y.
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