Court Opinion

ID: 9633330
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 11:43:26.958324+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:16:30.007602
License: Public Domain

LAYTON, Senior District Judge
(dissenting) :
1. Findings of Fact
Following an evidentiary hearing, the majority has made sweeping findings of fact relating to discrimination in school affairs, real estate transactions and public housing. It is found that in the past 20 years there has been a striking demographic change in residential population which has substantially affected school attendance patterns; that Wilmington is now heavily black; that as of 1954, many suburban blacks attended schools in Wilmington and suburban whites did the same, and that subsequent to Brown I (although these interdistrict attendance practices were ended), Wilmington schools became identifiably black; that nearly all schools in Wilmington which were formerly white and segregated are now identifiably black; that racial disparity between city and suburbs was brought about by such governmental actions as the publishing of an F.H.A. mortgage manual in 1936 which advocated racial and economic homogeneity of neighborhoods; that these racial neighborhood patterns were further encouraged by the F.H.A. as late as 1949 by the manner in which it issued mortgages; that State and local government has also been responsible for residential segregation; that Wilmington still maintains an identifiably dual school system, and that the State encourages the attendance of white Wilmington students at suburban private and parochial schools.
These findings, superficially read, would seem to make out a case in support of Plaintiffs’ charges of interdis*448trict discrimination through State action. More carefully examined against the evidence, I find in them nothing of sufficient substance to be the basis for an interdistrict remedy.

Schools

Findings to the effect that prior to 1954 there were interdistrict transfers of black and white students from the suburbs into Wilmington which affect present-day school attendance are, to may mind, a non-sequitur. The majority acknowledges, but gives no significance to, the reasons for such arrangements — that two decades ago, Wilmington had better educational facilities, full twelve-grade programs, etc. They acknowledge that these practices have not existed for years. But, finding that after the termination of these interdistrict transfers Wilmington’s schools became identifiably black, the majority apparently infers that the present black population is in part the result of such transfers. There is no evidence to support such a conclusion.
Milliken has made irrelevant to inter-district relief our July 12 finding that Wilmington’s schools retain vestiges of the former dual system. The Plaintiffs have pointed to no specific causal relationship between the existence of such vestiges and the relative racial composition of city and suburban schools, and the majority has made no concrete findings in this regard.
The only finding of any substance is that the State still supports transfers of students out of Wilmington to private and parochial schools in the suburbs. Even though blacks are not excluded from this program, and apparently neither are suburban students, it can reasonably be argued that it tends to discourage white students in Wilmington from attendance in Wilmington schools.

Real Estate

There are a number of findings having to do with discrimination in real estate transactions. The finding that the great increase in black population in Wilmington in the past 20 years is, in part, due to assistance, encouragement and authorization by governmental policies is, in my opinion, a conclusion unsupported by real, credible evidence. The Federal Housing Administration practices alluded to were terminated more than 21 years prior to commencement of this action.1
Real estate agents testified that racial discrimination still exists in real estate sales. Others denied this. There was “manufactured” evidence of white owners allegedly refusing to sell homes after finding that the potential purchasers were black. The real estate salesmen directly concerned bitterly denied this. Wisely, the majority gives no weight to such evidence. However, »the findings do note that the Recorder of Deeds of New Castle County accepted for recording deeds which contained racially restrictive covenants. And the Code of Ethics of the National Association of Real Estate Boards, which was reprinted by the Delaware Real Estate Commission, contained a statement cautioning realtors from “introducing into a neighborhood . . . members of any race or nationality, or any individuals whose presence will clearly be detrimental to property value. . . .
My impression of this evidence at the conclusion of the trial was (and still is) that it fell flat. Much of the record concerns circumstances which are not the result of State action. The majority concedes that twenty-seven years ago the Supreme Court declared racial covenants contained in deeds to be of no legal effect.2 The majority cites no authority requiring the Recorder of Deeds to cull out and delete this sort of material from *449the numerous deeds filed daily for recording; nor does it attribute any specific legal significance to failure to cull out such language. In my judgment, the only hard evidence of State action appearing in the mass of evidence dealing with real estate discrimination is the State publication, until 1970, of the N.A.R.E.B. Code of Ethics. Moreover, this Code was not exclusive to Delaware ; presumably it extended nationally from Maine to Georgia, and from Washington, D. C. to California.

Public Housing

Finally, there were a number of findings concerning racial discrimination in public housing. In the main, these findings show that little or no public housing has been built in suburban New Castle County, but that in Wilmington, which is heavily black, over 2,000 units have been erected. The inference is that this tends to confine blacks within city limits.
The Court also finds: “The several attempts by the County Housing Authority to fund public housing developments at suburban sites have met with vigorous opposition from neighborhood groups and have been unsuccessful in gaining the necessary rezoning or site approval from the New Castle County Council.” This finding, on the one hand, virtually concedes that failure of the New Castle County Housing Authority to create public housing in the County is due to private, not State, action; but on the other hand, it leaves the unsupported inference that the fault lies with the County Council. Not a word is said as to the reasons why the necessary rezoning permission was withheld; how many petitions were filed; why they were denied; and whether, upon denial, appeals were taken.
In my view, the majority’s findings, so sweeping in effect, so heavy with inferences but so lacking in concrete, relevant substance, have fallen far short of fixing the responsibility for interdistrict racial discrimination upon Defendants’ shoulders. What the majority does not face up to is that there seems to be no definitive explanation for the huge tide of black immigration into the nation’s cities, and the white flight therefrom, in the past two decades. One theory based upon persuasive logic is that the cause is economic; that thousands of blacks have left the South and other predominantly rural areas in the past twenty years out of a natural desire to seek the better job opportunities and higher wages available in the cities. There they have settled and, as is true of most ethnic groups, have tended to band together.
Other thinking on this subject is that there simply is no definitive answer to the situation. The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals, in language which with little change would, in my judgment, reflect exactly what has happened in Wilmington, has said:
“We think that the root causes of the concentration of blacks in the inner cities of America are simply not known and that the district court could not realistically place on the counties the responsibility for the effect that inner city decay has had on the public schools of Richmond. We are convinced that what little action, if any, the counties may seem to have taken to keep blacks out is slight indeed compared to the myriad reasons, economic, political and social, for the concentration of blacks in Richmond and does not support the conclusion that it has been invidious state action which has resulted in the racial composition of the three school districts. Indeed this record warrants no other conclusion than that the forces influencing demographic patterns in New York, Chicago, Detroit, Los Angeles, Atlanta and other metropolitan areas have operated in the same way in the Richmond metropolitan area to produce the same result. Typical of all of these cities is a growing black population in the central city and a growing white population in the surrounding suburban and rural areas. What*450ever the basic causes, it has not been school assignments, and school assignments cannot reverse the trend. That there has been housing discrimination in all three units is deplorable, but a school case, like a vehicle, can carry only a limited amount of baggage. Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education, 402 U.S. at 24, 91 S.Ct. 1267, 28 L.Ed.2d 554.” 3
In any case, I cannot agree that the disparity in residential and school populations between Wilmington and its suburbs is the result of discriminatory State action.
II. The Educational Advancement Act.
The majority has further found the Educational Advancement Act unconstitutional. But as the Court said in Milliken, “. . . without an interdistriet violation and interdistrict effect, there is no constitutional wrong calling for an interdistrict remedy.” 4 Even if the Act unconstitutionally specified that Wilmington’s historic boundaries not be disturbed, I fail to see how this changed the status quo so as to have interdistrict effect.5
In any event, I question the conclusion that the EAA, in re-establishing the lines of the city coterminously with the district, constituted a suspect racial classification. These district lines were not “deliberately drawn on the basis of race.” Milliken, at 745, 94 S.Ct. at 3127. The majority concedes that “(w)e cannot conclude, as plaintiffs contend, that the provisions excluding the Wilmington District from school reorganization were purposefully racially discriminatory.” They go on to say that “. . . the record does not demonstrate that a significant purpose of the Educational Advancement Act was to foster or perpetuate discrimination through school (district) reorganization. (T)he .focus of the legislature’s concern in developing the consolidation provisions of the Educational Advancement Act was on small, weak, ineffective districts . . . .”
Actually, the EAA did not establish new boundary lines for Wilmington. It maintained existing lines — lines which had existed for % of a century and were based upon a reasonable and rational conclusion that a school district of approximately 15,000 was about the right size for effective administration. These lines historically had given Wilmington certain educational perquisites which it could afford and did not wish to surrender.6 The only duty owed Plaintiffs, as I see it, was to see that the Wilmington district maintained a unitary school system (which it has not done— but the remedy for this has been set in motion by our July 12 opinion). Failure of the EAA to correct this violation, in the context of the goals and scope of the Act, does not, in my view, constitute a suspect classification of black Wilmington students.7 My conclusion is that the *451eXa is not unconstitutional; but even if it is, it has had no interdistrict effect. III. Alternate Findings.
The findings of fact and conclusions of law by the majority, with which I have already expressed disagreement, will in my view necessarily end in some form of interdistrict busing of students, both into and out of Wilmington, a result contrary to that arrived at in Milliken v. Bradley. Thus, anything further I may say will be only a cry in the dark. However, I should very briefly like to say this: were my view of the facts to control, I would find that—
(1) Prior to Brown I Delaware, a “border state”, was, beginning a few miles south of Wilmington at the Delaware and Chesapeake Canal and extending down to its southern border, a rural area embodying many southern manners, traditions and customs;
(2) It maintained a de jure dual system of schools;
(3) Nevertheless, upon the advent of Brown I and II, Wilmington promptly dismantled its dual school system so that within a few years a black student could attend the school of his choice to the extent which seemed to comply with the commands of the Supreme Court; 8
(4) In the lower counties there remained identifiably white and black schools, with white teachers for white schools and vice versa, separate schools for Moors, and varying kinds of school districts — Special, State Board and High School Attendance;9
(5) Dr. Gousha, a forward-looking educator, became State Superintendent of Schools in 1964 and accepted the challenge of gradually attempting to terminate this hodge-podge of black and white districts in the lower counties through vigorous administrative action. With the assistance of Dr. Row and others, and with the exercise of extreme tact as well as the cooperation of the State School Board, the program of dismantling the dual system in the two southern counties was finally accomplished by 1967;10
(6) At that time it was believed by the responsible authorities, including HEW, that the dual system of schools in the State had been substantially eradicated. In fact, HEW pointed to Delaware as the first border state which had “completely eradicated the dual system.” 11 Nor did these Plaintiffs, the NAACP, or other organizations, including the Wilmington School Board, indicate to the contrary;
(7) Even so, there remained very small districts, very large districts, some strong districts and some weak districts, and it was generally agreed that the school districts in the State, with the exception of Wilmington, needed consolidation ;12
(8) Wilmington was a unique district. Its boundaries had been coterminous with the City for more than 60 years. It was a wealthy district and maintained a fine system of schools. It enjoyed certain perquisites such as the right to certify its own teaching staff and was regarded by many local educators as about the right size for efficient administra*452tion.13 As the majority stated in its findings, elsewhere, the “focus of the legislature’s concern in developing the consolidation provisions of the Educational Advancement Act was on small, weak, ineffective districts,” not the Wilmington District;
(9) With patience, determination and the loyal support of many legislators as well as private citizens, the EAA was gradually formulated, polished and repolished.14 In the Legislature it was saved from crippling amendment by a single vote. It was the most important piece of education legislation ever passed in Delaware.15 All Wilmington legislators, including two who testified on behalf of Plaintiffs, voted for it. As the majority found, “. . . the record does not demonstrate that a significant purpose of the Educational Advancement Act was to foster or perpetuate discrimination through school reorganization.” No voice was raised by any of these Plaintiffs, their counsel, or any other body in opposition (on these grounds) when it passed in 1968, and no suit was filed challenging its constitutionality until the present action was begun some three years later. In fact, at the time this action was filed, the Wilmington School Board was not a party to it.16
(10) The Legislature still furnishes funds for the transportation of students from Wilmington to private and parochial schools in outlying districts. Black Wilmington students and students from other districts may take advantage of this program. Blacks, as a matter of sheer economics, have not been able to take advantage of this kind of interdistrict transportation on any large scale. However, the number of students who do participate is noticeably decreasing.17
(11) The Wilmington School District is infinitely smaller than that of Detroit. However, a study of the relevant statutes discloses that school districts in this State are at least as autonomous as in Michigan, and the two state systems of education are quite. similar in most respects18
IV. Conclusion
In light of my view of the facts, it is my considered judgment that Milliken v. Bradley should govern the result in this litigation.
Both Detroit and Wilmington maintained and still maintain dual systems of schools19, but such constitutional violation has had no effect on any other district. The two school systems are quite similar and the school districts surrounding each city have committed no unconstitutional act having any effect on each other or on the two city districts involved. Each school board in Delaware has the power to collect additional taxes and issue bonds, and a number of districts do both.20 Each district is relatively autonomous in the manner in which it operates its schools. To order an interdistrict transfer of students in this litigation would result, although concededly in a smaller way, in the necessity for this Court to solve many “complex problems” and in a sense be the “ ‘school superintendent’ for the entire area.” 21 The EAA is not, in my opin*453ion, unconstitutional; but, if so, it has no interdistrict effect. Viewing the record as a whole, I do not regard the furnishing of funds for an interdistrict transfer of students to parochial and private schools as sufficiently serious to take this case from the purview of Milliken v. Bradley.
In all important respects except size, the facts of Milliken and this case are strikingly similar. But Milliken is not a rule of size; it is a rule of law. Had this Court the option (which, pre-Miiiiken, appeared available to many courts) of curing de jure segregation by assigning students to schools in the surrounding districts, this could probably be done relatively easily here, although with considerable expense and interference in the administration of other school districts. But our task is to determine whether or not that approach, proscribed in Milliken, is available here. I find no constitutional violation in this case which would form the basis for an interdistriet remedy. I would direct that our recent opinion of July 12, 1974, be supplemented by a plan for the elimination of the dual system of education in Wilmington.

. By “this action,” I refer to the 1971 petition for supplemental relief in this case, which originated in 1957.

. Shelley v. Kraemer, supra.

. Bradley v. School Board of City of Richmond, 462 F.2d 1058, 1066 (4 Cir. 1972). See Milliken, 418 U.S. at 756 n. 2, 94 S.Ct. at 3133 (concurrence of Justice Stewart), and Keyes, 413 U.S. at 222-224, 93 S.Ct. 2686 (concurrence of Justice Powell).

. 418 U.S. at 745, 94 S.Ct. at 3127.

. T. 1171-72, 1835-36, 2311. See n. 12 and text thereto, infra.

. See n. 13 and text thereto, infra.

. In this respect, this case is similar to Bulluck v. Washington, 152 U.S.App.D.C. 39, 468 F.2d 1096, 1106-07 (1972), rehear, den. There, the Court found a Congressional choice to educate certain students outside of the District of Columbia to affect a racial group, but not to classify it racially. Thus, the classification' — -that of students not granted “extra-territorial” education — was upheld by application of the “rational basis” test, rather than the “compelling state interest” test. Here, Wilmington and Newark, classified according to size, were effectively removed from State Board discretion for the one year consolidation period, so were treated differently from all other State districts. Considering the primary goal of the Act — to rationalize district size and administration — • failure to provide affirmatively for integration of one of the cities classified according to size did not serve to classify that city (Wilmington), or its residents, according to race. Thus, the classification should survive scrutiny if rationally based, which the ma*451jority concedes it was. It should be noted that the EAA also eventually left undisturbed the existing boundaries of six other Delaware districts, four in New Castle County (Alfred I. DuPont, Alexis I. DuPont, Claymont, and DeLaWarr), and two in Sussex County (Laurel and Seaford). PX 21,31; DX39, 65, 66.

. T. 1496; DX 11, 21, 139, 165. In our July 12 opinion, we found vestiges of that system still to exist. However, the identifiably black nature of Wilmington’s present school population is due primarily to the large proportional increase in Wilmington’s black population since Brown I and II.

. T. 2096-2102, 2108-11.

. T. 2134-38, 2587-2604; DX 50, 51, 52, 56.

. T. 1797-98, 2606-07; DX 60.

. T. 1136-37, 2607-08; PX 210(f) p. 15, 210 (u) pp. 26-27.

. 23 Del.Laws Ch. 92, 32 Del.Laws Ch. 163; T. 249-51, 1155-56, 1989-90, 2098, 2122-23; PX 210(v) pp. 46-48, DX 68 pp. vi-ix.

. T. 1099-1102, 1138-1147, 1163-68, 1772-73, 2388-93, 2515-17, 2611.

. T. 1103, 1148-49; PX 183 p. 3.

. T. 1154, 2613-14, 2618-19.

. T. 2655-2667.

. This is not inconsistent with the finding of this Court and the Third Circuit that the State Board is responsible for all phases of desegregation in Delaware. See 14 Del.C. §§ 1010, 1026-27, 1043, 1048-50, 1055-57, 1091, 1304, 1401, 1902, 2102-03; T. 1832; PX 210(g) p. 27. Compare 418 U.S. at 742 n, 20, 94 S.Ct. 3112.

. The constitutional violations incident to the maintenance of the dual system in Detroit are far more serious and numerous than in Wilmington.

. The actual details and number of districts levying additional taxes and having outstanding bond issues were not made part of the record.

. 418 U.S. at 744, 94 S.Ct. at 3127.