Emergency Motion of Defendants For a Stay or Suspension of Proceedings
Public Court Documents
June 19, 1972
11 pages
Cite this item
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Case Files, Milliken Hardbacks. Emergency Motion of Defendants For a Stay or Suspension of Proceedings, 1972. 07f2ab43-53e9-ef11-a730-7c1e5247dfc0. LDF Archives, Thurgood Marshall Institute. https://ldfrecollection.org/archives/archives-search/archives-item/d816a5bf-65cd-49cb-828f-0c6d8c9a278e/emergency-motion-of-defendants-for-a-stay-or-suspension-of-proceedings. Accessed November 23, 2025.
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UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF MICHIGAN
SOUTHERN DIVISION
RONALD BRADLEY, et al,
Plaintiffs,
v s .
WILLIAM G. MILLIKEN, et al,
Defendants,
and
DETROIT FEDERATION OF TEACHERS LOCAL 231,
AMERICAN FEDERATION OF TEACHERS, AFL-CIO,
Intervening Defendant,
and
DENISE MAGDOWSKI, et al,
Intervening Defendants.
No. 35257
EMERGENCY MOTION OF DEFENDANTS WILLIAM
G. MILLIKEN, GOVERNOR; FRANK J. KELLEY,
' ATTORNEY GENERAL; STATE BOARD OF EDUCA
TION AND JOHN W. PORTER, SUPERINTENDENT
OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION, FOR A STAY OR
SUSPENSION OF PROCEEDINGS
Defendants William G. Milliken, Governor; Frank J.
Kelley, Attorney General; State Board of Education, and John
W. Porter, Superintendent of Public Instruction, by their
attorneys, Frank J. Kelley, Attorney General, et al, move the
Court for emergency consideration and a stay or suspension of
tile proceedings ordered by the Court in its "Order for Develop
ment of Plan of Desegregation" entered June 14, 19 72.. This
motion is made pursuant to Federal Rules of Civil Procedure,
62 and pursuant to 28 USCA 2101(f).
In support of this motion the state defendants respect
fully represent and show that:
1. There is now pending in the Supreme Court of the
United States the state defendants' petition for a writ of
certiorari to review the judgment of the United States Court of
Appeals for the Sixth Circuit entered on February 23, 1972 (dis
missing defendants' appeal) and to pass upon the questions of
de jure segregation in the Detroit Public Schools and the propriety
of a metropolitan remedy. Further, the state defendants have
filed with the Supreme Court of the United States a supplemental
brief to their petition for a writ of certiorari informing the
Supreme Court of the contents of this Court's injunctive order
of June 14, 1972, and asking the Supreme Court to take jurisdic
tion of this cause and pass upon the questions stated above.
State defendants have been informed by the clerk of the Supreme
Court that their petition for certiorari will be submitted to the
Court for its action during the present term of the Court.
2. They will take a timely appeal from said order
dated June 14, 1972, to the Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
and will diligently pursue such appeal to a final decision.
3. There is pending for decision before the Supreme
Court of the United States a case in which a number of the funda
mental issues in the case at bar will be decided. Keyes v School
District No. 21, Denver, Colorado, 445 F 2d 990 (CA 10, 1971),
cert granted 404 US 1036 (Jan 17, 1971).
4. The decision of the United States District Court
granting a remedy substantially similar to that directed by this
Court's order of June 14, 1972, was reversed by a United States
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Court of Appeals. Bradley v School Board of the City of Richmond,
Virginia, ___ F 2d ___ (Case Nos 72-1058 to 72-1060 and 72-1150,
June 5, 1972). The fact of reversal is even more compelling
because the Richmond case arose under the circumstances of public
schools being segregated by race by state constitutional and
statutory provisions and the metropolitan remedy was decreed only
after a trial involving the adjoining school districts which
resulted in findings of de jure segregation as to such school
districts.
5. This Court has made no findings of de jure segrega
tion as to either the establishment of the boundaries of the
affected school districts or the conduct of 52 of the school
districts in the desegregation area. Further, this Court has
expressly found no de jure segregation as to faculty and staff
within the Detroit Public Schools. Yet, the opinion and order
of this Court issued June 14, 1972, compel metropolitan desegrega
tion of grades K-6, as an irreducible minimum subject to a heavy
burden of proof, and 10% black faculty and staff at each school
within the desegregation area by the Fall, 1972 term.
6. It is respectfully submitted that this Court's
opinion and order of June 14, 1972, go beyond any federal
appellate precedents in school desegregation cases. Thus,
there exists a substantial probability that this Court will
be reversed on appeal.
7. Thus, absent a stay or suspension of this Court's
order of June 14, 1972:
"It.would subject the students and parents,
faculty and administration, to the trauma
of reassignments, with little likelihood
that such reassignments would continue for
any appreciable time."
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This quote is from page 4 of this Court's Findings of Fact and
Conclusions of Law on Detroit—Only Plans of Desegregation issued
March 28, 1972. These considerations are equally applicable to
the hundreds of thousands of children and thousands of teachers
and administrators that, absent a stay, will be reassigned for
the Fall, 1972 term only to be reassigned again in the event of
a reversal on appeal.
8. In addition, absent a stay on appeal, the educa
tional programs, finances, contractual relationships and provi
sions for governance of 53 school districts will be substantially
disrupted, all subject to the possibility of reversal on appeal,
and the subsequent need to re-establish such programs, finances,
contractual relationships and governance provisions for each of
these 53 school districts.
9. This Court should, in the exercise of its sound
discretion, grant this motion, thus preserving the status quo and
preventing irreparable harm to the people of the State of Michigan,
pending full and final appellate review of this cause.
10. _ This Court's order of June 14, 1972, compels the
Superintendent of Public Instruction to appoint a designee to
serve on a 9 member panel charged with formulating proposed interim
and final desegregation plans. Further, the Court has ordered
the state defendants to bear all reasonable costs incurred by the
panel. The state defendants submit that under Michigan law they
possess neither the power of taxation nor the power to appropriate
state funds. See Const. 1963, Article IX, Sections 1 and 17.
The Michigan legislature has not appropriated any funds to pay
the expenses of such panel. Consequently, the effect of this
Court's order is to compel the state defendants to disburse funds
beyond their lawful authority and practical ability to so do.
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11. This Court's order of June 14, 1972, compels defend
ant State Board of Education and Superintendent of Public Instruc
tion, in contravention of their limited power under state law,
to disapprove all proposals for new construction or expansion of
existing facilities when housing patterns in the area would result
in schools largely segregated by race. It is respectfully sub
mitted that, given the existing housing patterns in the desegrega
tion area, literal compliance with this portion of the Court's
order will result in a ban on much new construction and expansion
of existing facilities within the desegregation area to the
detriment of the school children to be served by such construction
or expansion.
12. The order of June 14, 1972, compels all defendants
to take immediate action concerning the establishment and expan
sion of faculty and staff inservice training, the creation of
bi-racial committees, the employment of black counselors and
the requiring of bi-racial and non-discriminatory extra-curricular
activities. This part of the Court's order extends to the entire
desegregation area. Yet, 18 of the school districts included in
such area are.not parties to this litigation. Thus as to these
18 school districts presumably the burden falls upon the state
defendants to carry out this Court's order in the respects
enumerated above as to these 18 school districts. Such action
by the state defendants, in contravention of their lawful powers
under Michigan law, will require substantial effort by the state
defendants at a time when most of the faculty and staff are away
from their jobs during the summer vacation as provided for in
their respective contractual agreements. Moreover as indicated
in paragraph 10, supra, your defendants are without lawful means
to pay for the same.
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13. This Court's order of June 14, 1972, requires the
Superintendent of Public Instruction, with assistance from the
other state defendants, to make recommendations within the 45 day
period, for appropriate interim and final arrangements concerning
the financial, contractual, administrative and school governance
aspects for the entire desegregation area. Further, by express
direction of tnis Court the Superintendent must make such recom
mendations independently of the contents of those state laws he
.is pledged to uphold in his oath of office.
14. Clearly the order of June 14, 1972, has set in
motion a chain of events which must result in substantial imple
mentation of student and faculty desegregation in the desegrega
tion area for the Fall, 1972 term. It is respectfully submitted
that, in the absence of a stay order, this judicially mandated
ongoing process will result in chaos and confusion for the
students, parents, teachers, administrators and school districts
affected to their irreparable injury. .
15. This ongoing process will occur in the summer, when
many school administrators, as provided in their contracts, are
under no obligation to be present and to work in their respective
school districts. Further, under Michigan tenure law, tenure
teachers in Michigan have until July 1 to determine whether they
will return in the following school year to their school districts
of present employment. See Article V, Section 1 of 1937 PA 4
(Ex Sess), MCLA 38.111; MSA 15.2011. Absent a stay order, these
tenure teachers will be unable to intelligently evaluate whether
they wish to return in the fall for employment since they will
be unable to determine, as a result of this Court's order, the
school and school district in which they will be teaching in the
Fall, 1972 term.
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16. The order of June 14, 1972, establishing a
desegregation area comprised of 53 school districts and setting in
motion a complete rearrangement of the governance, finance and
administrative aspects of such desegregation area, all contrary
to the Constitution and laws of the State of Michigan and without
any declaration by this Court as to which, if any, of such present
Michigan constitutional and statutory provisions are violative of
the Fourteenth Amendment, constitutes irreparable injury to the
people of the State of Michigan as being violative of their rights
under the Tenth Amendment to the United States Constitution.
17. It is respectfully submitted that this Court's
inclusion of 18 scnool districts in the desegregation area that are
not parties to this cause constitutes a denial of due process of
law to the residents of such school districts in contravention of
the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution. '
.18. The requirements of this Court's order that no
school, grade or classroom be substantially disproportionate to
the overall pupil racial composition, and that 10% of the faculty
and staff at each school be black and that every effort be made
to have bi-racial administrative teams where there is more than
one building administrator constitute impermissible racial balance
quotas.
Wherefore, the state defendants respectfully request
this Honorable Court to give emergency consideration to their motion
for stay or suspension of this Court's order of June 14, 1972, and
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to grant state defendants' motion for stay or suspension of this
Court's order of June 14, 1972, pending their application for
certiorari or, alternatively, pending their appeal to the United
States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.
Respectfully submitted,
FRANK J. KELLEY
Attorney General
Eugene Krasicky 0
Gerald F. Young
George McCargar
Assistant Attorneys General
Attorneys for William G. Milliken,
Governor; Frank J. Kelley, Attorney
General; State Board of Education
and John W. Porter, Superintendent
of Public Instruction, Defendants.
Dated: June 19, 1972
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STATE OF MICHIGAN )
) s S •COUNTY OF INGHAM )
On this 19th day of June, 1972, personally appeared
before me, a notary public in said county, Eugene Krasicky,
to me known, who made oath that he has read the foregoing motion
by him subscribed and that the facts stated therein are true.
C ; - , , ^ - - 7
SANDRA J. S Z UL /'
Notary Public, Ingham County,
Michigan
My commission expires May 19, 1975
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF MICHIGAN
SOUTHERN DIVISION
RONALD BRADLEY, et al,
Plaintiffs,
vs.
WILLIAM G. MILLIKEN, et al,
Defendants,
and
DETROIT FEDERATION OF TEACHERS LOCAL 231,
AMERICAN FEDERATION OF TEACHERS, AFL-CIO,
Intervening Defendant,
and
DENISE MAGDOWSKI, et al,
Intervening Defendants.ET AL.
No. 35257
NOTICE OF EMERGENCY MOTION
TO: LOUIS R. LUCAS
WILLIAM E. CALDWELL
Attorneys for Bradley, et al
525 Commerce Title Building
Memphis, Tennessee 38103
J. HAROLD FLANNERY
PAUL R. DIMOND
ROBERT PRESSMAN
Center for Law & Education
Harvard University
Cambridge, Mass. 02138
JACK GREENBERG
NORMAN J. CHACHKIN
10 Columbus Circle
New York, N. Y. 10019
NATHANIEL R. JONES
General Counsel, NAACP
1790 Broadway
New York, N. Y. 10019
E. WINTHER McCROOM
3245 Woodburn Avenue
Cincinnati, Ohio 45207
BRUCE MILLER
LUCILLE WATTS
Attorneys for Legal Redress Committee NAACP Detroit Branch
2460 1st National Building
Detroit, Michigan 48226
10
ALEXANDER B. RITCHIE
Attorney for Defendants-Intervenors Denise Magdowski, et al 2555 Guardian Building
Detroit, Michigan 48226
RILEY & ROUMELL
George T. Roumell, Jr.
Attorneys for Defendant-Detroit Board of Education 7th Floor, Ford Building
Detroit, Michigan 48226
THEODORE SACHS
Attorney for Defendant-Intervenor, Detroit Federation of Teachers 1000 Farmer Street
Detroit, Michigan 48226
HARTMAN, BEIER, HOWLETT, McCONNELL & GOOGASIAN
Kenneth B. McConnell
Attorneys for School District of City of Royal Oak 74 West Long Lake Road
Bloomfield Hills, Michigan 48013
CONDIT & McGARRY
Richard P. Condit
Attorneys for Southfield Public Schools
860 West Long Lake Road
Bloomfield Hills, Michigan 48013
BUTZEL, LONG, GUST, KLEIN & VAN ZILE
William M. Saxton
Attorneys for Allen Park Public Schools, et al
1881 First National Building
Detroit, Michigan 48226
HILL, LEWIS, ADAMS, GOODRICH & TAIT
Douglas H. West & Robert B. Webster
Attorneys for Grosse Pointe Public Schools
3700 Penobscot Building
Detroit, Michigan 48226
ROBERT J. LORD
Attorney for Kerry Green Tri-County Citizens8388 Dixie Highway
Fair Haven, Michigan 48023
PLEASE TAKE NOTICE, THAT the foregoing Emergency Motion
for a Stay or Suspension of Proceedings will be brought on for hearing
before Honorable Stephen J. Roth, United States District Judge, at
such time and place as the court may direct.
Respectively submitted,
FRANK J. KELLEY
Attorney General
Eug'ene Krasicky
Gerald F . Young
George McCargar
Assistant Attorneys General
Dated: June 19, 1972 Attorneys for William G. Milliken,
Governor; Frank J. Kelley, Attorney
General; State Board of Education
and John W. Porter, Superintendent
of Public Instruction, Defendants11