Source: https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/409/75/
Timestamp: 2019-04-20 20:16:39+00:00

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Justia › US Law › US Case Law › US Supreme Court › Volume 409 › Johnson v. New York State Educ. Dept.
449 F.2d 871, vacated and remanded to the District Court to determine whether case has become moot.
for grades one through six in the schools of the district."
In light of this fact, and given the suggestion at oral argument that the book themselves have a life expectancy of five years, the judgment is vacated and the case is remanded to the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York to determine whether this case has become moot.
While I Join the Court's decision, I feel obliged to state somewhat more fully what I view to be the reasons for and meaning of this remand.
The New York statutory scheme here under attack effectively denies textbooks to indigent elementary public school children unless the voters of their district approve a tax especially for the purpose of providing the books. [Footnote 1] Petitioners who are indigent recipients of public assistance allege, inter alia, that the statute, as applied to their children, creates a wealth classification violative of the Equal Protection Clause.
wealthy children learning with purchase[d] textbooks, [thus engendering] a widespread feeling of inferiority and unfitness in poor children [which] is psychologically, emotionally and educationally disastrous to their well being.' [Footnote 3]"
"he will receive an 'F' for [each] day because he is without the required textbooks. When the other pupils in the class read from textbooks, the teacher doesn't let him share a book with another pupil; instead she gives him paper and tells him to draw. [Footnote 4]"
This case obviously raises questions of large constitutional and practical importance. For two full school years, children in elementary grades were denied access to textbooks solely because of the indigency of their families while these questions were being considered by the lower courts. After we had granted certiorari, however, a majority of the voters in respondent school district finally agreed to levy a tax for the purchase of textbooks for the elementary grades, and we are told that free textbooks have now been provided.
in no way suggests any particular view as to whether this case is, in fact, moot. That decision is for the District Judge in the first instance.
"[a] case [may be] moot if subsequent events [make] it absolutely clear that the allegedly wrongful behavior could not reasonably be expected to recur."
"[m]ere voluntary cessation of allegedly illegal conduct does not moot a case; if it did, the courts would be compelled to leave '[t]he defendant . . . free to return to his old ways.'"
events, for loss due to theft, and for obsolescence due to curriculum changes? And, even accepting the five-year figure, does this make the problem a non-recurring one insofar as the continuing viability of this litigation is concerned?
The District Judge should also investigate the posture in which the legal issues presented by this case might again arise when the books begin to wear out. Will the respondent school district delay holding a new election until the new books are actually needed? Is it possible that litigation would again have to proceed for an entire school year, or more, while indigent children are deprived of books, before the constitutionality of that deprivation is finally determined?
Under New York law, local school districts are required to loan textbooks free to students in grades seven through 12. N.Y.Educ.Law § 701 (1971). No such provision is made for children in grades one through six; free textbooks are to be made available to children in those grades only upon the vote of the majority of the district's eligible voters to levy a tax to provide funds for the purchase of the textbooks, N.Y.Educ.Law § 703 (1971).
The fee imposed was $7.50 per child.
449 F.2d 871, 873 (CA2 1971) (quoting with approval petitioners' allegations).
Affidavit of Carl Jay Nathanson, App. 28.
These prior statements provide only rough guidance in this case, particularly since we deal here with an electoral process that is employed only on an irregular basis as new books are needed. Nevertheless, I think they are enlightening as to the appropriate inquiries for the District Court to make on remand.
Nor should the District Court overlook the fact that this is a class action brought by petitioners "on their own behalf and on behalf of their children and all other persons similarly aggrieved." Even if the case is now moot as to these particular petitioners, there may be other members of the class who remain aggrieved, and thus the action may remain a viable one, see, e.g., Cypress v. Newport News General & Nonsectarian Hospital Assn., 375 F.2d 648, 657-658 (CA4 1967); Gatlin v. Butler, 52 F.R.D. 389, 394-395 (Conn. 1971). Cf. Brockington v. Rhodes, 396 U. S. 41, 396 U. S. 43 (1969).

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