The Detroit School Busing Case: Milliken v. Bradley and the Controversy over Desegregation

In the wake of Brown v. Board of Education, racial equality in American public education appeared to have a bright future. But for many that brightness dimmed considerably following the Supreme Court's decision in Milliken v. Bradley (1974), which emerged from Detroit's efforts to use cross-district busing to desegregate its schools and was the first such case to originate outside the South.

In its controversial 5-4 decision, the Supreme ruled that, since there was no evidence that the subur...