Thompson v. Raiford Complaint in Intervention
Public Court Documents
October 21, 1992

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Legal Department General, Lani Guinier Correspondence. Memorandum from Lani Guinier to Debbie Fins Re Virginia Voting Case; Memorandum from Phyllis McClure to Julius Chambers Re: James City County/Williamsburg, 1985. 402463d5-e892-ee11-be37-6045bdeb8873. LDF Archives, Thurgood Marshall Institute. https://ldfrecollection.org/archives/archives-search/archives-item/b85368f7-9534-4e69-bbfb-02c0922c6693/memorandum-from-lani-guinier-to-debbie-fins-re-virginia-voting-case-memorandum-from-phyllis-mcclure-to-julius-chambers-re-james-city-countywilliamsburg. Accessed August 19, 2025.
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T/1.^o f,o^ Lani Guinier October 14, 1985 To: Debbie Fins Re: Virginia Voting Case Please Iet Phyllis know You are Iooking into the voting angIe. See attached memorandum. LG/r Attach Y,EMORANDL]M TO : Julius Chambers FROM: Phyllis McClure \':, SUBJ: James City County,/Witliamsburg DATE: Octobet 4, 1985 I have done the following re Dr. Thomas Shield's reguest for help on school and related issues. I. Dr. Shields came to our office to meet with black parents who are active in school affairs in Fairfax County (Virginia) and Prince Georges County (Maryland) along with two people from the Mid-Atlantic Race Equity Center at American University who are acting in their private capacity. The parents gave Dr. Shields excellent suggestions and advice. The seven of us decided to constitute ourselves as the Williamsburg Group. Each of us has taken on specific assignments to aid Dr. Shields, and The Group will meet again on October 29 in llashington 2. I spoke to Gwen Jones Jackson about the Virginia statute that requires appointed school boards. Gwen says that blacks have always opposed changing the law in the belief that they get more representa- tion by appointment than they would by election. She thinks, however, that the Virginia N$ACP may be reevaluating its position, a topic ttrat qill be discusded at the forthcoming state-wide meeting in Nor fol k . 3. I discussed the matter with Oscar Blayton at Airlie. Oscar comes from williamsburg, practices in Hampton and is wilJ.ing to get in- vol ved . 4. I referred Shields to Jackson and Blayton. 5. I arn assisting Shields in collecting information about the schools, of which he has very little. The Virginia State Department of Education no longer coLlects any data by race. The last OCR surve)'that picked up this school district was 1918. Shields has had some success with the Superintendent; the information is being mailed to me for distri- bution to The Group. 5. I cin't tell yet whether we have a potent ial law su j.t and if so on which grounds, i.e. pupil assignment. Without a lot more in- formation, I also cannot tell if there is a voting rights case. The county commissioner and city council members are elected by district. A Freedom of Information Act request should be filed to see what Justice has. I will keep you posted. cc: Lani Guinierr,/ Elaine Jones Barry Goldstein