Plaintitff's Response to Emergency Motion

    t
IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 
FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF MICHIGAN 

SOUTHERN DIVISION

RONALD BRADLEY, et al., )
)
)
)
)
)

Plaintiffs,
V .

WILLIAM G. MILLIKEN, et al., )
)
)Defendants,
) CIVIL ACTION

and )
) NO. 35257

DETROIT FEDERATION OF TEACHERS, )
LOCAL 231, AMERICAN FEDERATION )
OF TEACHERS, AFL-CIO, )

)
)
)

Defendant Intervenor,
fand )

)
)
)
)
)
)

DENISE MAGDOWSKI, et al.,
Defendant-Intervenor.

et al.

PLAINTIFFS' RESPONSE TO EMERGENCY MOTION OF 
DEFENDANT DETROIT BOARD OF EDUCATION

Plaintiffs, by their undersigned counsel, hereby 
respond to the Emergency Motion of Defendant Detroit 
Board of Education which is scheduled for hearing on 
December 11, 1972.

The defendants have stated that there is an 
emergency matter upon which this Court must act. However, 
plaintiffs respectfully submit that no such emergency 
exists.

Plaintiffs concur in the proposition that the 
responsibility for maintaining the educational program 
pursuant to the requirements of law and the orders of this 
Court within the city of Detroit is the obligation of all 
defendants, including the state defendants. Plaintiffs 

further agree that the constitutional rights of all school 
children in Detroit would be violated if the state were



t
to provide less education for these pupils than that 

available in other districts of the state.
However, the only emergency requiring the ac­

tion of this Court to enforce its prior order is an 
emergency created by the Detroit Board by their November 8th 
resolution to close school beginning December 21st. In 
short, the Detroit Board, as one of the defendants, was 
in the position of advising the Court that they inten­
ded to breach this Court's order. Plaintiffs are now ad­
vised that as of December 5, 1972, the Detroit Board has 
rescinded its resolution of December 8th, and, therefore, 
the emergency, if any, created by the Detroit Board's 
"anticipatory breach," no longer exists. Moreover, we 
are informed that leaders of the Michigan legislature 
axe planning to take action in compliance with what plain­
tiffs perceive as their duty, to assist the other defen­
dants in complying with this Court's orders.

We are advised that the state defendants, in 
compliance with their obligation under the order, have 
previously agreed to advance the Detroit Board approxi­
mately 20 million dollars, a sum sufficient to keep the 
schools in operation at least through March, and there 
is no reason to assume that any defendant would there­
after violate this Court's orders or their own constitu­
tional obligations. The actions to date indicate a recog­
nition by the State Board of Education and other state 
defendants of their constitutional obligations and their 
specific obligations with respect to this Court's order.
We have not been, and are not now, prepared to assume 
that the state defendants will disobey the law or the in­
junctive order of this Court.

Plaintiffs, therefore, respectfully submit that 
the defendant Board's motion should be denied, or, in the 
alternative, since there is clearly no immediate indica- 
cation that this Court's order will not be obeyed, that

2



♦
the motion should be held in abeyance until the factual

situation warrants action by the Court.

Respectfully submitted,

J. HAROLD FLANNERY 
PAUL R. DIMOND 
ROBERT PRESSMAN 

Center for Law & 
Education 
Harvard University 
Cambridge, Massachusetts

LOUIS R. LUCAS 
WILLIAM E. CALDWELL

RATNER, SUGARMON & LUCAS 
525 Commerce Title Building 
Memphis, Tennessee 38103

E. WINTHER McCROOM 
3245 Woodburn Ave. 
Cincinnati, Ohio

NATHANIEL JONES 
General Counsel 
N.A.A.C.P.
1790 Broadway
New York, New York 10019

JACK GREENBERG 
NORMAN J. CHACHKIN 

10 Columbus Circle 
New York, New York 10019

ATTORNEYS FOR PLAINTIFFS

- CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE

I hereby certify that one copy of the foregoing 
Plaintiffs' Response To Emergency Motion of Defendant 
Detroit Board of Education has been served upon all coun­
sel of record, either by hand delivery or U.S. mail, post­
age prepaid, this 7th day of December, 1972.

WILLIAM E. CALDWELL

-  3 -