Correspondence from Lani Guinier to Terry G. Davis
Correspondence
January 31, 1985

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Case Files, Milliken Hardbacks. Defendants' Brief in Opposition to Plaintiffs' Motion Requiring Defendants to Cooperate and Pay for a Desegregation Plan Prepared by Plaintiffs, 1972. c03ac90c-53e9-ef11-a730-7c1e5247dfc0. LDF Archives, Thurgood Marshall Institute. https://ldfrecollection.org/archives/archives-search/archives-item/1fbe94ae-28ab-4274-88e6-0f8f2a359c20/defendants-brief-in-opposition-to-plaintiffs-motion-requiring-defendants-to-cooperate-and-pay-for-a-desegregation-plan-prepared-by-plaintiffs. Accessed August 19, 2025.
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UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT EASTERN DISTRICT OF MICHIGAN SOUTHERN DIVISION RONALD BRADLEY, et al, ■ . Plaintiffs, V'. WILLIAM G. MILLIKEN, et al, Defendants, , Civil Action DETROIT FEDERATION OF TEACHERS, No. 35257 LOCAL #2 31, AMERICAN FEDERATION OF TEACHERS, AFL-CIO, Defendant- Intervenor and . DENISE MAGDOWSKI, et al, Defendants- Intervenors. _____________________ / STATE DEFENDANTS' BRIEF IN OPPOSITION TO PLAINTIFFS' MOTION FOR AN ORDER REQUIRING STATE DEFENDANTS TO COOPERATE FULLY AND OPENLY AND FOR STATE DEFENDANTS TO PAY FOR THE REASONABLE COSTS OF A PLAN OF METROPOLITAN DESEGREGATION PREPARED BY PLAINTIFFS. FRANK J. KELLEY Attorney General Eugene Krasicky Patrick Kowaleski Assistant Attorneys General Attorneys for State Defendants Business Address: 7 Story Office Building 525 West Ottawa Street Lansing, Michigan 48913 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT EASTERN DISTRICT OF MICHIGAN SOUTHERN DIVISION RONALD BRADLEY, et al, Plain tiffs, v . WILLIAM G. MILLIKEN, et al, , Defendants, DETROIT FEDERATION OF TEACHERS, LOCAL #231, AMERICAN FEDERATION OF TEACHERS, AFL-CIO, Defenaant- Intervenor and DENISE MAGDOWSKI, et al, ' Defendan ts- Intervenors. _____________________________________ / Civil Action No. 35257 STATE DEFENDANTS' BRIEF IN OPPOSITION TO PLAINTIFFS' MOTION FOR AN ORDER REQUIRING STATE DEFENDANTS TO COOPERATE FULLY AND OPENLY AND FOR STATE DEFENDANTS TO PAY FOR THE REASONABLE COSTS OF A PLAN OF METROPOLITAN DESEGREGATION PREPARED BY PLAINTIFFS. Introduction This Court rendered its decision containing its findings of fact and conclusions of law on September 27, 1971. A hearing was held on October 4, 1971 to "chart our course from here on in these proceedings." Tr. October 4, 1971, p 3. The Court opened the proceedings by indicating that it was going to order "the local and state school authorities to present desegregation plans." Tr. October 4, 1971, p 3. The means of desegregation was left to the school authorities: "I want to make it plain I have no preconceived notions about the solutions or remedies which will be required here. Of course, the primary and basic and fundamental responsibiliLv is that of the school authorities. . . . " Tr. October 4, 1971, p 6. "[Emphasis supplied] The Court then asked fop: comments and counsel responded: "MR. KRASICKY: As the Court is aware the Department of Education is one of the twenty departments of the Executive Branch. It is . headed by the State Board of Education, one of the defendants here, and its chief executive officer is the Superintendent of Public Instructions, one of the Defendants here. "In consulting with the Department, recognizing there would be a meeting today and certain inquiry would be made as to what the time might be for drawing up a plan, I was informed that in Los Angeles, and I was informed by a representative of the Department, when a desegregation plan was promulgated for that city school district that a contract was made with the Rand Corporation, a program was written and all information was fed into the computers and came out with a program six months later. Based upon this experience, and tnis is tiie best the department could do, they estimate that it will take six months to draw up a plan. "I point out to the Court on Friday of last week, October 1, under Michigan law, school districts were required to count their pupils. This is for the purpose of state aid and also for other reporting purposes. So it will be necessary to feed all of this information back in and that is going to take some time. "The Department of Education also estimates that it will cost a quarter of a million dollars to oromulcrate such a plan and this is a very rough estimate. I asked them if they had toe money for it and they said, no, but they were hopeful of getting a grant to pay for it. They dian't tell me where the grant was coming from, what their prospects were, but they said they had hopes of obtaining such a grant. "Obviously these defendants that I have described and not the other State defendants have the expertise and ability to prepare plans. It will take time. I am sure the plaintiffs will say six months is too long but we are responding to the Court in candor. It is going to take that long. It may even take longer. Some hope was expressed that the Court might give indications in this so-called metropolitan plan as to what the boundaries of the metropolitan plan would be. I informed them that I would bring it to the Court's attention. Summing up, it will take at least six months to draw up a rational, understandable plan, based upon experience of other areas in the country. I so inform toe Court. THE COURT: Let me stop you. As I understand it you and toe board would like to know what I consider toe proper dimensions of the so-called metropolitan plan? 2 - ,:Mk . KkaSICKY: This is what 1 was asked to make inquiry of. "MR. 3USHNELL: Yes. "THE COURT: I would defer to the Board on that. "MR. KRASICKY: I shall so inform them. "THE COURT: That is their problem and I am looking to them for advice on that very thing. Now the thought I had about this matter was this, whether it would be proper and feasible to say to the State Board, 'Present to the Court a skeletal plan so that we can recognize the dimensions of our problem.' It seems to me that is the first order of business in trying to fashion a metropolitan plan. You have to define the boundaries and the borders. "Now it may be— I'm not an educator— I never aspired to become one, maybe I am being forced into it but it may be that that can't be done, I don't know. Maybe until you come up with an overall plan you really can't tell me what the boundaries of it should be or what its dimensions should be, I don't know. "In my simplistic approach I thought that that would be the starting point. If you could on the basis of much less than complete knowledge, which a computer can devour, settle on a fairly comprehensive outline of the territory to be covered. . . ." Tr. October 4, 1371, pp 11, 12, 13. Counsel for plaintiffs responded, in pertinent part: "It may be what can be done at the present time is relatively limited but there are some things I am sure in a good faith effort that could be done. We also suggested that the Detroit Board and the State Board either jointly or separately come forward with their proposals for an outline of how far out we should go - a general proposal. I am not talking about assigning every child to every"'school for the forthcoming school year but some skeleton outline as the Court has suggested. In doing that I think we are all nounci to use the Swann remedies. As the court indicated there they are determining there was a right and we must consider, and I think the parties, all of us should be directed to consider all of the techniques ' that Swann suggests and any other technique which would provide a similar result. "It may have taken six months in Los Angeles, your Honor, to assign every pupil to a school but certainly it shouldn't take more than a couple weeks to come in here with a reasonably informed judgment as to the .perimeters of the relief. I think the Court should set down a fairly rigid schedule and fairly quick one to come in to get the issue properly before the Court." [Emphasis supplied] Tr. October 4, 1971, pp 20, 21 - 3- After the Court had heard all counsel, the Court said: "THE COURT: Within thirty days the Detroit Board of Education should submit to the Court a concise report of progress on the Magnet Plan, and along with it an evaluation of its worth in helping to bring about a better and higher quality of education. Copies of both the report and also the evaluation shall be made available to the other parties litigant at the same time. "Such other parties may have ten additional days in which to submit their views and evaluations of the progress under the Magnet Plan. "It is further ordered that the Detroit Board of Education submit its plan for desegregation of its schools within sixty days. "It is ordered that the State defendants submit a metropolitan plan of desegregation, perhaps in more or less skeletal form, within one hunarea twenty (120) days. "Objections to each plan-, city and metropolitan, may be filed by the other parties litigant not later than thirty days after the expiration of the time set. Such objections may be accompanied by alternate plans." Tr. October 4, 1971, pp 26, 27 [Emphasis supplied] Court expected the State Board of Education, as the state party with primary basic and fundamental responsibility in this field to submit plans on behalf of the State. It is equally clear that these plans were to be skeletal only and were not to include pupil assignments. While all counsel orally agreed that the oral decision of the Court need not be reduced to writing, thereafter the defendant State Board of Education insisted that the decision of the Court be put in writing. Because the plaintiffs would not approve the form of an order proposed by state defendants, the Court prepared and entered its own order dated November 5, 1971. • On February 4, 1972 the defendant State Board of Education submitted 6 plans for consideration by this Court. They were submitted without recommendation of the State Board of Education because it was unable to agree on any plan or plans. See Exhibit M 9, hearings on Metropolitan Plan. - 4- Thus, tiie defendant State Board of Education, as the state authority with the primary, basic and fundamental responsibility in this field, has complied fully with the Court's direction. Regardless of this, the plaintiffs are seeking to alter that portion of the Court's decision requiring plaintiffs, if they disapprove of defendants' plans, to provide their own alternate plans and are seeking, in effect, to, require the state defendants to pay for alternate plans for them. Plaintiffs''requests are based on the conclusion that an order of this Court has not been met. In light of tne decision of the Court of Appeal!'*"that the District Court's action of November 5, 1971 did not constitute a mandatory injunction pursuant to 28 USC § 1292(a), there is a question of whether or not the Court even issued an order. As was said in Taylor v Board of Education of New Rochelle, 288 F2d 600, 604 (1961): ". . . It is common practice for an equity judge first to reach a conclusion as to liability and to determine the aoorooriate relief later in the event of an affirmative finding. If the District Judge had said in his opinion only that a further hearing would be held at which the parties would have an opportunity to express themselves as to relief, by testimony, argument, or both, it would be entirely plain that he had not granted a mandatory injunction, and this would be so even if he had also stated that, in the interest of orderly procedure, he would expect the defendants to take the lead at the hearing. In substance this is what Judge Kaufman did. Although the penultimate paragraph of his opinion is headed 'The Decree,' the context makes clear that the few sentences that follow were not, themselves, decretal, but simply explained how he planned to fashion his decree. To be sure, the opinion used the word 'ordered' with respect to the filing of a plan, just as courts often 'order' or 'direct' parties to file briefs, findings and other papers. Normally this does not mean that tne court will hold in contempt a party that does not do this, but rather that if he fails to file by the date specified, the court may refuse to receive his submission later and may proceed without it. . . The state defendants filed an appeal from the decision of this Court, dated November 5, 1971. Plaintiffs moved to dismiss, relying inter alia upon the argument that upon submission of the plans to the Court, the state defendants' claim would be moot. See discussion under 3 below. In dismissing state defendants' appeal the [1] BradleY v * Milliken, Appeal Dismissed, Feb. 23, 1972, F2d (1972). - 5- Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit determined that this Court's order was neither a final order nor an interlocutory mandatory injunction which could be appealed under Title 28 USC § 1292(a). Assuming, arguendo, however, that the Court's decree of November 5, 1971 constituted a binding order, several things are clear: 1. The defendant State Board of Education's plan was to be skeletal only. 2. The metropolitan plan was not to be subject to "approval" by the plaintiffs. 3. The State Board of Education, as the state authority with the primary, basic and fundamental responsibility in this area, has complied fully with the directive of November 5, 1971. ARGUMENT 1. The plan was to be skeletal only. It is clear from the comments of court and counsel at the •October 4, 1971 proceedings that the metropolitan plan to be submitted was to be skeletal only in that it was to define the boundaries and the borders of the metropolitan plan and was not intended to discuss such things as pupil assignments. When asked by counsel for the state defendants whether the Court intended to establish the perimeters of the metropolitan plan tiie Court indicated it would defer to the State Board of Education on the matter: "That is their problem and I am looking to them for advice on that very thing. Now the thought I had about this matter was this, whether it would be proper and feasible to say at the State Board, 'Present to the Court a skeletal plan so that we can recognize the dimensions of our problem.' It seems to me that is the first order of business in trying to fashion a metropolitan plan. You have to define the boundaries and the borders. -6 "Now it may be--I 'm not an educator-:— I never - aspired to become one,, maybe I am being forced, into it but it may be that that can't be done, I don't know. Maybe until you come up with an overall plan you really can't tell me what the boundaries of it should be or what its dimensions should be, I don't know. . "In my simplistic approach I thought that that would be tile starting point. If you could on the basis of much less than complete knowledge, which a computer can devour, settle on a fairly compre hensive outline of the territory to be covered. . . ." p. 13 Counsel for plaintiffs clearly understood that a detailed plan was not intended by the Court's directive. In discussing the State Board's role the plaintiffs questioned only the required time for preparation of such a plan, and not on the scope of the plan: [MR. LUCAS] - "It may be what can be done at the present time is relatively limited but there are some things I am sure in a good faith effort that could be done. We also suggested that the Detroit Board and the State Board either jointly or separately come forward with their proposals for an outline of how far out we should go - a general proposal, I am not talking about assigning every child to every school for the forthcoming school year but some skeleton outline as the Court has suggested. . In doing that I think we are all bound to use the Swann remedies. As the court indicated there they are determining there was a right and we must consider, and I think the parties, all of us should be directed to consider all of the techniques that Swann suggests and any other technique which would provide a similar result. "It may have taken six months in Los Angeles, your Honor, to assign every pupil to a school but certainly it shouldn't take more than a couple weeks to come in here with a reasonably informed judgment as to the perimeters of the relief. I think the Court should set down a fairly rigid schedule and fairly quick one to come in to get the issue properly before tne Court." pp 20, 21. ’ Thus, defendant State Board of Education, as the state authority with the primary, basic and fundamental responsibility in this field, was given 120 days in which to submit a metropolitan plan of skeletal nature. For plaintiffs to now take the position - 7- • •I. ' I ■ . that the-submission of detailed plans, including pupil assignments, was intended by the Court's directive is completely contrary to its October 4, 1971 position, as quoted above. Therefore its position is untenable. . 2. The metropolitan plan was not to be subject to “approval" by the plaintiffs.___________ The plaintiffs have taken the position that since the metropolitan plans submitted by defendant State Board of Education, as the state authority with the primary, basic and fundamental responsibility in this field, are not as detailed as they would wish, the Court should require state defendants to pay for experts hired by plaintiffs to prepare a metropolitan plan. In support of this position plaintiffs cite Swann v Charlotte-Mecklenberg Board of Education, 306 F Supp 1299 (1969), aff'd 402 US 1 (1971), and Jackson v School Board of Lynchburg, Civ No. 534 (WD Va, April 28, iry/U; . m m e aw aim case m e xoeai uuani had been erdexed Lhxee times to submit new plans for desegregation of its schools. After study of its latest plan, it was clear to the Court that under the board’s proposal the seven black elementary schools in the system would remain 100% black. It was then that the Court ordered a desegregation plan to be prepared by an expert. In Jackson, the district court found that the school board's plan for desegregation did not comply with constitutional requirements. When the board indicated that it was unable to devise an alternate plan, the court allowed the plaintiffs to prepare a plan at the defendants' expense. The facts in Swann and Jackson differ materially from the present case where there has been no suggestion that the metropolitan plans submitted by the defendant State Board of Education, as the state authority with the primary, basic and fundamental responsibility -8 in this field, do not, at least in several of them, define the perimeters of the metropolitan plan or will not desegregate the Detroit school system. It is true that the state defendants did not call witnesses to support these plans since the State Board of Education had not been able to agree on a recommendation among tire plans and because defendants Milliken and Kelley had filed objections to the plans. Nevertheless the persons responsible for formulation of the plans have been made available to answer plaintiffs' question concerning the plan which was prepared at the request of the Court. Indeed plaintiff took the deposition of Dr. Lawrence Hillman, co-author of the Metropolitan School District Reorganization Plan and said plan is the basic ingredient of the Neighborhood School Based Metropolitan Plan. A fair reading of such entire plans indicates a conclusion by their authors that, educationally speaking, the plans offer maximum integration of the three county Wayne, Oakland and Macomb area. Instead of seeking answers from Dr. Hillman and Mr. Mogk, his co-author, the plaintiffs have chosen to request the Court to require the state defendants to pay for a different plan contrary to the Court's directive. The plaintiffs have objected to the plans submitted by the State Board of Education, as the state authority with the primary, basic and fundamental responsibility in this field. A plain reading of the Court's directive or order indicates that plaintiffs, if they so desired, could submit alternative plans at their own expense. To require the state defendants to finance plaintiffs' plan, especially when the State Board of Education's own skeletal plans have not been fully developed, was clearly notwithin the intention of the Court on October 4, 1971 and reduced to writing on November 5, 1971. - 9- O , m U , A C ' J ----------, 4 - ^ S3 ^ -d T * r ,-, 4 - “U ^ P | ______, 4 - , -v -> • l i i C k_J u a u o U U u x va w j . I j U u v ^ u u a . v.^Ai, f « u .o u u c u u u c-v-- authority with the primary, basic and fundamental responsibility in this field, complied fully with the directive of November 5, 1971._______ ____ In compliance with this Court's November 5, 1971 directive, the defendant State Board of Education,has submitted 3 metropolitan ■plans, which would, the state defendants believe, define the perimeters of the metropolitan plan and would desegregate the Detroit public schools. The Governor and the Attorney General have not prepared a desegregation plan because, as their counsel stated on October 4, 1971, they do not have the technical expertise for such an endeavor and because, as pointed out above, the Court had indicated that the decisions on the perimeters of the plan to be submitted were left to the State Board of Education. Proceedings of October 4, 1971, pp 12, 13. Six plans for the desegregation of the Detroit pubV-> 1 V i - C i t ' ~ ' J ~ ^ -«----- J - U - ----------x- _ _ _ V - ---------- ----------- A 1 O n H m - u ~ ^ i ^ 4 ^ 4 . 4 4= -P cite Dr. Porter's statement that the State Board "didn't make a decision, period," as indicating that the State Board did not submit any plans to the Court. A fair reading of Dr. Porter's deposition indicates the contrary: [MR. DIMOND] "Let's just hypothesize for a moment. A Judge has to make a decision affecting the lives of a million children. Now, are you saying to me as a professional ■ educator and as the Superintendent of Public Instruction in the State of Michigan, you have no advice to give the Judge as to which is best? [DR. PORTER] "I have given the Judge -- the Judge has before him the information that I think addresses itself to all of the questions. The Judge also has a lot of other advice. I think the State Board of Education in receiving all of this information, has adopted a resolution that speaks for itself. It didn't make a decision, period. ■ "Q. I understand that. "A, Okay. - 10- "Q. If x remember correctly, the motion says that these plans are to be submitted with no recommendation? "A. That's right." p 83. It was understood by everyone at the hearing that Dr. Porter was testifying that the State Board of Education made no decision i to recommend any one plan to the Court. All of the plans were submitted in a good faith attempt to meet the Court's request for assistance in defining the perimeters of the metropolitan plan and in effectively desegregating the Detroit schools. It is also clear that the plaintiffs themselves recognized that the state defendants' obligations concerning the preparation of plans would be satisfied upon submission of State Board of Education plans to the Court. In opposing the state defendants' appeal of the Court's November 5, 1971 ruling, the plaintiffs said: "In the instant case the Detroit Board defendants have already submitted plans in accordance with 4 —U v —> v \ ^3 4— C 4 - n 4 -< - \ p o - f A n r i 4 - 0 r , t i " 1 1 Q n V\TY» i 4~ tv — UC J - f w .liU L—X X ‘—- kJ CU L.L* UVJX. t iA U U li C-kO V» J. x 1 o txx-?iU.L U i e i i . p j . c u i £> w x u u i i l w u • jli i u b f x u i i t j u c i u i c briefs are filed in this appeal, the order from which defendants appeal will have, 'by its terms, expired.' • Robinson, supra, App. 1 at 3." . Motion to Dismiss Appeals, Jan. 24, 1972, pp 10-11. To claim now that the ruling was not complied with by the submission of State Board of Education plans is a contradictory position, formulated to suit the convenience of the plaintiffs. Conclusion At the time this brief is being written, the Court has before it at least 5 plans which propose to define the perimeters of the metropolitan plan and would appear to be capable of desegregating the Detroit Metropolitan area. These are: - 11- • • 1. Intervenor Magdowski's plan for a borough system in the Wayne, Oakland and Macomb area. 2. The State Board of Education's Metropolitan School District Reorganization Plan. 3. The State Board of Education's Neighborhood School Based Metropolitan Plan. 4. The State Board of Education's Metropolitan One-Way Movement Plan. 5. The Detroit School District's Metropolitan Plan. It appears from the four corners of each of these plans that each defines the perimeters of the metropolitan plan and any one of them could provide for the desegregation of the Detroit school system. Since the hearings on these plans have not been completed, it appears to be inappropriate at this time to consider tiie formulation of any new plans. Earlier in this litigation the plaintiffs sought an order to require the Detroit school board to finance an intra-district plan which was to be prepared by plaintiffs' expert. This motion for costs was not pursued by the plaintiffs but the Detroit board did cooperate with the plaintiffs in the preparation of a plan. This plan was found to be constitutionally infirm: "7. . . . The plan would make the Detroit school system more identifiably Black, and leave many of its schools 75 to 90 per cent Black. . . ." [Findings of March 28, 1972] Thus, if the Court had ordered the school district to finance the plan, the expenses involved would have been unwisely incurred. The arguments of the plaintiffs are advanced only to achieve the purpose of requiring someone else to pay for the plaintiffs' plans. The October 4, 1971 opinion and the November 5, Order do not indicate that the objectors' plans are to be paid for - 12- by any of the defendants, but rather are to be paid for by the objectors themselves. . . they have followed the directions of, the District Court as required by the Court's October 4 and November 5 rulings. The school authorities were required to submit' a plan of desegregation which was to be skeletal, in that it defined the perimeters of the metropolitan plan, and was not to provide for pupil assignments. Five plans have been submitted to the Court and there has not been a ruling that these plans fail to meet constitutional requirements. Although the State Board of Education submitted these plans without recommendation, since they were unable to agree upon them, the con sultants who prepared these plans'have been made available to the plaintiffs for purposes of explaining the plans. Court to deny plaintiffs' motion for an order requiring state defendants to cooperate fully and openly and for state defendants to pay for the reasonable costs of a plan of metropolitan desegre gation prepared by plaintiffs. In summary, the state defendants assert affirmatively that WHEREFORE, state defendants respectfully request the Respectfully submitted FRANK J. KELLEY Attorney General Patrick Kowaleski Assistant Attorneys General Attorneys for State Defendants Business Address: 7 Story Office Building 525 West Ottawa Street Lansing, Michigan 48913 Dated: April 6, 1972 - 13- CE RTI FI CATE OF ' SE RVICE I hereby certify that on the 6th day of April, 1972, I served a true copy of the foregoing State Defendants' Brief upon each of the following named attorneys of record, by mailing the same to him by first class mail, postage fully prepaid, addressed to his last known business address: Messrs Louis R. Lucas and William E. Caldwell Mr. Nathaniel R. Jones . Messrs. J. Harold Flannery Paul R. Dimona and Robert Pressman Mr. E. Winther McCroom Messrs. Jack Greenberg and Norman J. Chachkin Mr. George T. Roumell, Jr. Mr. Theodore Sachs n £ . a i t J A a i i u c i £> . f t i t u n t ; Kenneth B. McConnell Condit & McGarry Ml*'. William M. Saxton Messrs. Douglas H. West and Robert B . Webster Mr. Robert J. Lord