ABSTRACT
When the Supreme Court decided the Brown case in 1954, desegregation was necessary for the nation's foreign relations and in light of emerging moral values. The Supreme Court meant well when it required local school districts to consider race in order to increase integration. Martin Luther King was assassinated on the day after the Supreme Court heard the oral arguments in Green, and the nation experienced one of its worst periods of racial rioting during the weeks when the justices considered the case. The courts accepted Reynolds's argument, and during the 1980s, voluntary programs that emphasized magnet schools became the preferred and most frequent method for promoting integration. Then Reynolds developed a blueprint for ending forced busing in school districts that had previously been subjected to court orders. The Court also said that judges exceeded their authority if they went beyond remedying discrimination and tried to counteract demographic trends and social conditions.
