Opinion ID: 11931
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Fordice

Text: Program duplication was one of the four remnants of the de jure system identified by the Supreme Court in Fordice. 505 U.S. at 738. Following the 1987 trial, the district court found significant duplication of programs at the HBIs by the HWIs, Ayers I, 674 F. Supp. at 1541, but concluded that “there is no proof” that such duplication “is directly associated with the racial identifiability of institutions,” and that “there is no proof that the elimination of unnecessary program duplication would be justifiable from an educational standpoint or that its elimination would have a substantial effect on student choice.” 73 Id. at 1561. The Supreme Court stated that “[i]t can hardly be denied that such duplication was part and parcel of the prior dual system of higher education -- the whole notion of ‘separate but equal’ required duplicative programs in two sets of schools - - and that the present unnecessary duplication is a continuation of that practice.” Fordice, 505 U.S. at 738. The Court emphasized that the State bears the burden of proving that present-day program duplication is not constitutionally defective and held that the district court had improperly shifted the burden to plaintiffs. Id. The Court indicated that, on remand, the district court should “consider the combined effects of unnecessary program duplication with other policies, such as differential admissions standards, in evaluating whether the State had met its duty to dismantle its prior de jure segregated system.” Id. at 739.