Board of Education of Oklahoma City Public Schools v. Dowell

Starting in 1961, Dowell and other Black students (plaintiffs) sued Oklahoma City's school board (defendant) over intentional segregation. Courts found intentional segregation in 1963 and again in 1965, when neighborhood zoning failed to desegregate because of residential segregation patterns. In 1972 the district court ordered busing to eliminate single-race schools. Years later, the Board sought to dissolve the injunction; the district court agreed, but the court of appeals reversed, holding dissolution required "nothing less than a clear showing of grievous wrong evoked by new and unforeseen conditions." The U.S. Supreme Court granted certiorari to decide the correct standard.