## Facts

- Seattle School District No. 1 voluntarily adopted a desegregation program (the “Seattle Plan”) that used mandatory busing to reduce racial isolation.
- No court had found the Seattle district liable for de jure segregation; the plan was not court-ordered.
- Washington voters approved Initiative 350, which generally prohibited school boards from requiring students to attend a school other than the nearest or next-nearest school.
- The initiative allowed broad exceptions permitting busing for nonracial reasons (including special education, overcrowding, safety, and facility limitations) but barred busing for purposes of racial integration absent a court order.
- Seattle and other districts sued, alleging the initiative violated the Equal Protection Clause.
- The federal district court permanently enjoined enforcement, reasoning the initiative impermissibly singled out race-related busing; the Ninth Circuit affirmed.

## Issues

1. Whether a state violates the Equal Protection Clause by removing local authority to order mandatory busing for racial integration while leaving local authority intact for busing and student assignment decisions made for nonracial purposes.
2. Whether a facially neutral restructuring of governmental decisionmaking is unconstitutional when it imposes a special political burden on racial minorities seeking policies that primarily benefit them.

## Decision

- The Supreme Court affirmed, holding Initiative 350 unconstitutional under the Equal Protection Clause.
- The Court concluded the State nonneutrally reallocated decisionmaking authority by making the racial character of a policy determine the level of government that could authorize it.
- By singling out integration measures for a unique state-level barrier, the initiative made it harder for racial minorities and their supporters to obtain favorable educational policy than for other constituencies pursuing comparable busing policies for nonracial reasons.
- The Court emphasized the ruling did not require Washington to maintain voluntary integration programs; it limited the State’s ability to withdraw or limit such programs through a race-focused political restructuring.

## Legal Principles

- Equal protection bars a state from restructuring political or governmental decisionmaking in a way that, because of a policy’s racial subject matter, places special obstacles on racial minorities’ ability to secure beneficial legislation.
- A law may violate equal protection even if facially neutral when it selectively reallocates governmental power so that race-related policies must clear a higher-level political process than other policies.
- The Constitution does not require a state to adopt voluntary integration measures, but state action altering decisionmaking authority cannot be designed or structured so that racial issues uniquely face heightened political hurdles.

## Conclusion

Washington’s Initiative 350 violated equal protection because it selectively removed local power to implement busing for racial integration while permitting busing for many nonracial purposes, thereby imposing a distinct political burden on racial minorities and reallocating governmental authority on the basis of a policy’s racial character.


Washington v. Seattle Sch. Dist. No. 1, 458 U.S. 457 (1982)