Court Opinion

ID: 9465203
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 00:39:02.586509+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:39:02.091928
License: Public Domain

ENGEL, Circuit Judge,
dissenting.
I respectfully dissent. While transportation of school children beyond their normal *807neighborhood schools may be and often is a necessary tool in a desegregation plan, it is not the only nor the invariable one. Flexibility in such plans is the keystone and like the Supreme Court in Swann, I would rely to a large extent on the informed judgment of the district court, 402 U.S. at 28, 91 S.Ct. 1267, 1283, recognizing, as did it that “[i]t hardly needs stating that the limits on time of travel will vary with many factors, but probably with none more than the age of the students.” Id at 31, 91 S.Ct. at 1283. While I would in all likelihood have supported an opposite decision by the trial court, I would hold that the order here was within the range of its discretion, especially when accompanied by sensible and objective findings which do not appear to be influenced by any improper motive.